


The New Guardians

by Miraculerforlife



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, LadyNoir - Freeform, Liladrien, Marichat, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, adrienette - Freeform, ladrien, miraculous - Freeform, ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 25,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27282283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miraculerforlife/pseuds/Miraculerforlife
Summary: When Master Fu dies from a stroke, Marinette becomes the new Guardian, but the record player gets put in a yard sale and Lila buys it. What will Adrien do when she figures out what's inside it, and uses it against Marinette?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Lila Rossi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 52
Kudos: 24





	1. The Stroke

Marinette and Adrien were sitting on two chairs next to Master Fu's bed in the hospital. Marinette was trying to hold back her tears to be strong for Adrien, but he could see the tears brimming at her eyes, and he hugged her. With that she broke down into tears. He was rubbing her back, telling her everything would be okay and kissing her forehead.

"What are we going to do with the Miracle box?" Adrien thought for a second, but nothing came to his mind. "I don't know." Wayzz came out from behind a potted plant.

"If he doesn't make it through this, his last wish was for you to become the Guardian, Marinette." Her eyes widened as she pulled away from Adrien. "Oh, wow. I'm honored." They were interrupted by Adrien's phone ringing. "My father needs me home, see you tomorrow milady."

She smiled, she had really became fond of that name over the past two months. "Bye kitty," He smiled, not because of the name... Well partially because of that, but the main reason was because she was smiling. He loved her smile.

"You should go home, get some rest. I watch over him." She nodded and left it was already 1:30 in the morning. She went home and slept.

It was about 3:25 AM when Marinette woke up to her phone ringing. she answered and put it on speaker for Tikki to hear. "Hello." It was an unknown number so she was unsure what to say. 

"Hello, is the Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" She was confused how they knew her name, but answered anyway. 

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry to say that Wang Fu passed away at 3:22 AM. My condolences to you and his family." 

That's when everything shutdown for Marinette, she dropped her phone, and all she could hear was ringing and the sound of her own breathing. Tikki knew that she couldn't do anything to help her, so she quickly flew out to get the one person who could help her. Her boyfriend.

Adrien still awake going through the Ladyblog, smiling at all the comments of congratulations when he heard a familiar voice come from behind him. 

"Adrien!"

He quickly turned around to see a very worried kwami. "Tikki? What's wrong, is Marinette okay?" Tikki shook her little head. "She needs your help." 

His eyes widened and he transformed without hesitation. Then he bolted to Marinette's, not caring who was watching. When he got there, he saw her with her head in her hands. He quickly knelt beside her.

"Marinette, princess I need you to look at me." He tilted your head towards his. She opened her eyes slightly, she saw him and she hugged him as tight as she could.

"Marinette, you're okay, don't worry." She pulled off of him and he saw the tears in her eyes. "Marinette, what's wrong?" She looked down. "It's Master Fu, he... He.." But she didn't need to finish that sentence. He knew what she was going to say. He put he in his lap and just hugged her. Then she broke the silence. "We should get to the hospital."

"Are you sure, we could go in the morning?" He said that because he wanted her to be ok before they left, and he also didn't want to leave that position.

"Yeah, we have to go take his Miraculous back."

\--Time skip--

Marinette yawned, "Morning Tikki." She looked at her kwami who was just staring at her desk. "Tikki? What's wrong?"

"Marinette... Where's the Miracle box?" Marinette looked at her desk only to say nothing, she pretty much jumped off the bed and ran down stairs. 

"Mom, did you take a record player out of my room?" Marinette said in what she hoped was a calm and rational voice.

"Oh yeah it was sitting in the pile of stuff you wanted to sell. I put in in the yard sale and someone bought it." Marinette had never had the felling that she had right now, and it was eating up at her.

"Who bought it!?"


	2. The Miracle Box

"It looked like it was one of your classmates." Her mother was not sure why she was making such a big deal out of this. I mean, what's so special about a record player.

"Which one was it!?" She was really wondering who it was, although she already had an idea.

"I think it was Lila?" She was kinda hoping to end this conversation soon because she needed to get back to work. She gave a baguette to someone and looked back to see the door slam.

"Oh no no no no no no. It's bad enough the Miracle box was given away, but it had to be given to Lila." Marinette had been pacing in her room for the past five minutes. "Marinette it's going to be okay." Her ladybug type kwami tried to reassure her, but she wasn't listening to her. "My first day as the guardian, and what do I do? I lose the Miracle box," Marinette fell onto her chaise and groaned.

"I have to get it back, but I can't as Marinette, she'll never give it to me, and I can't as Ladybug because then she'll know there's something important about it and she can't keep her mouth shut. Master Fu would be so disappointed."

"Marinette, you need to calm down." 

"How Tikki? Lila has almost every Miraculous."

"At least she doesn't know the code."

"I guess."

\--With Lila--

Lila walked into her apartment with the record player under her arm. When she reached her room she locked the door and put the record player on her desk.

"Marinette isn't the type of person to own a record player, so there must be something special about it." She felt the buttons and accidentally pressed them.

"What's this?"

Marinette called Adrien to tell him what was going on.

Adrien: She what!?  
Marinette: I know, what are we going to do?  
Adrien: I don't know, but I'll talk to her tomorrow at school.  
Marinette: Thanks Adrien

\--Time skip at the school--

Adrien walked up to Lila and tapped her shoulder catching her attention. 

"Hey Lila, can we talk?" Lila automatically shooed whoever she was taking to away, and turned to Adrien. "Sure, what do you need?" The way she was looking at him could have made everyone think that she won the lottery.

"Did you by any chance go to Marinette's yesterday, and bye a record player?" Her eyes widened and she pretended to think about it. "Nope, I hardly even left the house yesterday, why?" 

"Oh, no reason." Adrien was thinking of what other classmates Sabine could have meant. "If there was no reason then why did you bring it up?" 

"It was Marinette's grandfathers, and it accidentally got sold, and I'm trying to help her get it back." He was about to walk away when she said something else.

"Then why do you think I have it?" 

"Her mother just thought she saw you there."

The Bell Rang

"Well I'll see you in class." He left the locker while she just stood there grinning. "There must be something important in there if she's getting Adrien to get it back for her."


	3. The Truth of a Lie

Adrien was sitting in the back seat of his personal Limo looking out the window when he heard his phone ding. He turned on his notifications for when Nadja Chamack had started live streams so he knew if and or when someone was Akumatized. 

"Don't be bemused, it's just the news. We just received an update from the Ladyblog that Adrien Agreste, son of Gabriel Agreste is in a relationship with our favorite superhero, Ladybug." Adrien's eyes widened and he quickly shut off his phone. Of coarse something like this was going to happen. If he hadn't been distracted by the angel he is proud to call his girlfriend, he would've seen this coming.

"Oh no, what is my father going to think about this?" He had never been this afraid. Sure maybe fighting Hawkmoth, but when his father got mad. He. Got. Mad. And Gabriel never really liked superheros. For a reason that Adrien never understood. He quickly jerked forward, signifying he was home, and he walked up the stairs, waiting for the storm to arrive.

\--Two Minutes Earlier In Gabriel Agreste's Office--

Gabriel Agreste was in his office, standing in front of the portrait of his wife, Emilie Agreste when he heard his phone go off. He turned it on and watched the video. When he finished, he couldn't be more furious, and that's saying a lot. "Nathalie!" He called out to his executive assistant. "Yes sir?" He turned around startled a bit, where in the world did she come from?

He decided to ignore that for now, and showed her the news report, still as furious as a bull. "He has allied himself with my enemy." He said very slowly that it sent a sense of dread down Nathalie's spine. She took a quick deep breath, "This could help us sir. He may be able to lead us to Ladybug." She was trying to look at the bright of things so he would calm down. An angry Gabriel was never a good thing.

He thought about it for a second, maybe she's right. Then he got an idea. If he could get her in his house, he could learn more things about her. "You're right Nathalie, thank you." She nodded and was about to leave when he said one more thing. "When Adrien get's back, tell him to come in here." She nodded for the last time and left the room.

\--Back To Present--

Adrien walked up the long flight of stairs and kept repeating the same sentence in his head. 'Please don't know. Please don't know.' He stepped inside before bolting for his room, but a familiar voice stopped him and snapped him out of his daze. "Adrien, your father wants to talk to you."

He sighed, "Thank you Nathalie." Adrien began to walk to his father's office, and he could feel Nathalie's stares on the back of his neck. He felt almost revealed when he shut the door to his father's office. All that relief immediately left his body when he heard the cold the voice of his father. "Is it true?" He didn't even bother to look at him when he said it. He just kept facing the portrait. "Yes." He said so quiet that his father almost didn't hear it... Almost.

"So when do I get to meet her?" Adrien's eyes widened and jaw dropped. He may have expected words, but those weren't then them. He flinched a bit when his father turned around to face him. "What?" Adrien was beyond confused. He expected his father to yell. "I would like to meet my sons girlfriend and make sure she's good association." Adrien almost scoffed, he tried not to roll his eyes.

"Well she's a superhero." Adrien didn't know why his father was so calm. What is he up to? "Yes, but do you know who the girl is under the mask?" Adrien's eyes narrowed, why did he want to know? What is going on? All these question were going through his mind. "No, but I know under the mask she's an amazing person." He kind of wanted to say he did know just to see his father's reaction. He knew that was a bad idea. He could tell his father wanted to know who both Ladybug and Cat Noir, so that was out of the question anyway. 

"Good, invite her for dinner next Friday." Adrien knew there was no way out of this. so he thought maybe if he agreed, he could protect her in ways. 

"She might be busy, like I said before. She's a superhero."

"I'm sure she's a good person, but I would still like to get to know her." 

He sighed, it was always hard and frantically impossible to change his father's mind. It has only worked once, and he wasn't even the one who did it. "Okay, I'll ask her." He was about to leave when his father called his name one last time. "Adrien." 

"Yes."

"You may go spend time with her if you wish, just be back by Eight o'clock, and finish your Chinese lessons." At that moment, Adrien should have definitely known something was up, but was to happy to realize.

"Thank you father." With that he left, and called Marinette.  
Marinette: Hey Adrien, what's up?  
Adrien: Did you see the news report?  
Marinette: No, what news report?  
Adrien: The one that says Ladybug and I are dating, which is true, but now my father wants you to have dinner with us next Friday.  
Marinette: What! People know, and why does he want to have dinner with me?  
Adrien: He said he thinks you're a good person, but he still wants to get to know you.  
Marinette: Sure, I can do that.  
Adrien: Okay great. Oh, and my father is letting me stay out tonight want to hang out?  
Marinette: Yeah, could you came and pick up though?  
Adrien: Sure, I'm by the school, I'll be there in a minute.

He hung up

(A/N By the way, Tom and Sabine both know they are dating, but they don't Marinette is Ladybug)

Adrien walks in to see Marinette's parents looking at him, with a big smile on their faces. He then sees Marinette walk down through the door. Her hair was down, and Adrien was wondering if he was drooling. He looked at the TV and saw the report about him and Ladybug and gave Marinette a look.

She quickly went to turn it off, then walked over to her boyfriend. "Ready to go Adrien?" He smiled and put his arm around her, which made her blush a bit.

Next Update: 4/18/20


	4. When the Truth Comes out

Adrien and Marinette are sitting on a blanket that he brought so that they could get comfortable. What they didn't notice was Lila standing behind a tree, watching their every move. Marinette was drawing outfits in her sketchbook. The night sky and the shining stars gave her so much inspiration. 

Adrien, on the other hand, was only watching her with a smile on his face. 'Her thinking is so cute.' He thought as she stopped drawing and turned to face him. He got worried when he saw the look on her face. 

"What's wrong?"

"How are we going to get the Miracle box back? If Lila didn't take it... Who did?" 

Lila was about to scream when she heard that but stayed quiet. 

Adrien saw how her eyes were glossy, was she seriously blaming this on herself?! So, to make things better, he did what he does best... No its not making puns, he figured out that might actually help.

"Do you have any cameras on your street?" She looked at me with a confused face, but then nodded. "Yeah, the bakery has them for safety reasons, what's your point?" He looked at her with a small smile on his face.

"Oh, no reason. It's not like we could check the footage from yesterday to see who bought it." Her eyes lit up and she smashed her lips onto his. He was about to kiss back, but she pulled away. He gave her a small pout.

"Come on Adrien, let's go check those cameras." She took his hand and they headed towards the bakery. Lila came out from behind the tree with a smug smile on her face.

"So that's what's so important, I have the Miracle box."

Marinette and Adrien walk into the bakery hand-in-hand, only to see Marinette's parents looking straight at them... And they did not look happy.

Tom was the first to break the silence."Adrien is this true?" He pointed to the TV, and Adrien closed his eyes. This was the one thing they didn't want to happen. "You're cheating on our daughter with Ladybug?!"

Marinette's mother had tears streaming down her face. "I can't believe you would go low. I thought you were a gentleman." 

"No no no, it's nothing like that." That only seemed to make her father even more angry.

"Then what is it!?" "You deserve better Marinette." Adrien was pretty sure they were about to kick him out. But before he could argue anything, Marinette spoke up.

"No, mom dad it's not like that. It's-" Adrien new what the next words that were about to come out of her mouth were and he couldn't let her say it.

"Marinette, no."

"Marinette, yes!" Her parents demanded in perfect sync.

"Adrien, it's okay," She reassured him. "He's not cheating on me with Ladybug, because... I am Ladybug." Adrien could sense the uneasiness in her voice, so he took her hand in his, and gently squeezed her hand to let her know that he was there for her. He looked back up at her parents to see a look of shock on their faces.

"But there's no time to think about that. Can Adrien and I have the footage from the yard sale? No questions, we just need it." Sabine nodded. Marinette grabbed wrist and pulled me up to her room. She was getting the footage on her computer, while I was looking around her room.

Adrien saw all the photos of him around her room and smirked. He now knew the reason why she put up these photos, but he wanted to hear it from her.

"M'lady?" Adrien said, still with a smirk on his face. "Yeah?" She asked still not taking her eyes off her computer. "What is the real reason you have all these photo's of me," Marinette froze, "because we both know it's not because you like fashion." 

She slowly turned around to see him holding one of the photos from his swimsuit photo shoot. Her face turned a deep shade of red that only made his grin widen. "You know why." She said at an almost whisper tone, so he could still hear her.

"Nope, I have seemed to have forgotten. Could you remind me?" He pretended to think because he 'forgot'. 

Marinette knew what he was doing, but she also know him. She knew that he wouldn't let this go until she gave him the right answer. "It's because..." She lowered her voice. "I love you." 

He put his hand to his ear. "What was that, I couldn't hear you?" She looked at him and pouted. "I love you." He looked at her satisfied. 

"I love you too."

She turned back to her computer and watched Lila walk out of the bakery with the record player. 

"That. Lying. Brat!" Marinette already hated it when Lila lied, but this was going to far.

"It's okay, now that we who has it, we know where to find it." Adrien's phone dinged. he checked it then checked the time. "Dang, it's almost eight o'clock. I have to get home, bye bugaboo. 

"Bye kitty."


	5. Unlocking Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I posted this chapter early, but it's very short, and I felt bad

"Adrien, did she accept my invitation?" The cold voice came from behind Adrien. He quickly spun around which made Gabriel raise and eyebrow. Adrien laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck.

"Yes," He said in a high pitched voice, but quickly cleared his throat. Wasn't he was already embarrassed enough. "Yes, she agreed to it, but she might be a little nervous about it."

Gabriel shook his head. "She has nothing to worry about." 'Except me' He said to himself. Gabriel knew that Adrien would be angry with him when he took his girlfriend, but he'd understand once he found out why he did.

Adrien walked up to his room to escape this awkward situation, and so could call Marinette. (A/N #Giveadrienlove) 

"What are you trying to get out of this dinner?" Nathalie asked after Adrien shut the door to his room. "I hope to find something that will give me a hint of who she is."

"After you find out who she is, what's your plan?"

"When the time comes Nathalie."

\--At Lila's--

Lila was still messing with the Miracle box, trying to figure out how to open it. "What is the code for this stupid thing?"

She keeps trying to unlock it for ten minutes, but then she opens it.


	6. The Dinner Proposition

It's the night of the dinner and Adrien is a bit nervous, why did his father really want to host this dinner. He heard a knock at the door at he walked downstairs. 

He opened the door to a smiling Ladybug. "Hi Ladybug." 

"Hey Adrien."

He kissed her cheek and put his arm around her. "My father is in his office. I'll let him know you're here. Nathalie, would you mind taking her to the dining room?" She nodded "Of coarse." She asked Ladybug to follow her and Adrien walked to his fathers office. 

"Father, she's here." Adrien said peeking his head through the door. His father grinned. "I'm on my way."

Adrien walked into the dining room and sat next to Ladybug. She saw how he was feeling a little jittery, so she put her hand on top of his as a reassurance. He looked up at her and gave a weak smile. That's when Gabriel chose to walk in. Seeing the two lovebirds only made him want to walk over to her and rip off her earrings just for the fun of it.

He did walk over to her, but he only shook her hand. "It's very nice to meet you, Ladybug." She smiled. "It's very nice to meet you too Mr. Agreste."

For the next hour and a half, they made small talk. Gabriel was asking questions to Ladybug. Some of them Adrien answered because he thought they were to personal.

"Well I should get going, my parents might get worried if I'm out to long. Bye." She kissed Adrien and he stood up. "I'll walk you out."

\---Time Skip---

Lila rang the doorbell and a camera came out of the wall. "Hello, I would like to speak with Mr. Agreste." She said and the gate opened. She walked up the the door and walked in. 

"Hello, Miss. Rossi. Gabriel is in his office. I think he will be pleased to see you." Lila walked up to the door and knocked, she could hear a faint 'come in' and she walked in. "Hello Mr. Agreste, I have some news for you."

He turned around from the painting of his wife and eyed her. "What would that be." She smiled. "I have a proposition." She took the Miracle box out of her back pack. Gabriel's eyes widened. "Where did you get that!?" He quickly reached to grab it, but she was faster then him, so she was able to put it behind her before he took it. 

"Oh no, as I said before. I have a proposition." Gabriel lifted an eyebrow. Lila was smarter then he had led on. he knew he would have to be careful. "And what would that be?" She smiled, happy to have his full attention. 

"I want a Miraculous, if you let me borrow the fox Miraculous, I'll give you Ladybug's name and I'll be able to get both hers and Cat Noir's Miraculous. Only, if I succeed, which I will, I get to keep the Miraculous I have. Plus, Adrien has to tutor me." Gabriel thought about it for a minute, "Deal." He took the Miracle box from her and gave her the fox Miraculous. 

"Now what is her name"

"The same girl we have been suspecting this entire time... Marinette Dupain Cheng."

\--At Lila's--

Adrien knocks on Lila's door with Marinette behind her, he tried to get her to stay home, but she gave his the eyes that he couldn't resist. He let her some and here we are.

Lila answered the door. "Hi Adrien," She looked behind him to see the girl she despised. "Oh, hello Marinette." She said in much more monotone voice.

"Give up the act Lila, we know you bought the record player. We need it it back." 

"Please."

"Sorry, I sold it."

"You What!??!


	7. The Tutoring Session

Marinette couldn't believe what she was hear. Lila was just sitting on her bed with her legs crossed, looking at Marinette like she did nothing wrong. "I wouldn't have done it if you had not stolen my boyfriend." Marinette's jaw was lying somewhere on the floor where she couldn't find it. It was taking her all her strength not to floor Lila right this second. Adrien said something that took her out of her thoughts.

Adrien sighed and brought his hand to his forehead. "Lila, we've been over this. I'm not your boyfriend anymore." Marinette finally had some sense of reality and took Adrien's hand, he smiled slightly at that which made Lila want to gag.

"Are you serious?! Who did you sell it to?!" Marinette yelled, all up in Lila's face. She just smirked. "Sorry, customer confidentiality." Lila said with a pouty lip. Marinette had had enough. She finally started to leap at Lila, but Adrien quickly grabbed her by the waist. "Marinette, no, it's not worth it. Let's just go." She nodded and he took her home. When Lila was sure the door was shut she took her necklace out of her shirt. She smirked and started to go somewhere.

\--With Adrien and Marinette--

"I cannot believe she sold it. That girl just makes me so angry." Adrien smiled and nodded, he was pretty angry with Lila when Marinette told him when Lila had threatened to take him away from her. There was no way he was going to let that happen. (A/N Or so he thought. you should remember this a/n for the future) "Who do you think she sold it to?" His phone rang and both of them stopped. "My father needs me home, see you tomorrow." He kissed her cheek and started to walk home.

\--At the Agreste mansion--

Adrien walked inside and Nathalie walked up to him. "Adrien, you have a student that needs tutoring, she's already in your room." Adrien was a little confused why his father would allow him to tutor someone considering what happened with Lila, but ignored that thought. he'd just come back too it later. "Ok, thank you Nathalie." 

Adrien stated walking up the steps to his room wondering who this person he was tutoring was. Wait did Nathalie say she? Lots of questions were burning in his mind. He got up to the door to his room and hesitated when he put his hand on the door knob, but opened it anyway. And let me tell you he was not expecting to see who he did in his room. "Lila? What are you doing here?"

"Well when I was visiting my grandmother in London, I was in a horrible car accident. I had to undergo surgery and have three months of physical therapy. The doctors say it is a miracle I'm even able to walk. Anyway, I missed a lot of school work and I don't want to have to retake 10th grade again." Adrien gave her the look that said 'I don't believe you, so don't even try'. 

He sighed, "Okay Lila, I'll help you." Lila's fake smile dropped and her eyebrows furrowed. "Wait really?" Adrien smiled. "If you tell me where the record player is." Lila just rolled her eyes. "I told you Adrien, I sold it." Adrien walked over and opened the door. "Then we have nothing to talk about, goodbye."

"Fine, I sold it online. I don't know his name, I only know his email address." Adrien squinted his eyes wondering how he was going to get it back, but he would never give up. He was doing this for her, and he'd do anything for her. "What is it?" He asked with caution, Gabriel wasn't the only one who knew that Lila was as sly as a fox. But unlike Gabriel, Adrien was sneaky like a cat. And he was going to use that to his advantage.

"Help me with algebra first." She said with a cheeky smile. Adrien just sighed. "Fine."

\--Half an hour later--

"Okay Lila, we finished all your homework now tell me what their email address is." Adrien said in a stern voice. He was growing impatient. She put her hands up in surrender. "Okay okay, but first," Adrien groaned at those words. "You have to do one more thing for me." "And what would that be." Adrien said through gritted teeth. 

"Can I see your phone for a minute, I have to tell my mom I'll be home a little late." Adrien hesitated, "Why can't you use your phone?" "It's dead." She said fast, a little too fast to Adrien, but he gave it to her anyway.

She quickly took his phone after it was unlocked and looked for Marinette's contact. She saw the name "Buginette" and tried her best not to roll her eyes, but hey, she found what she was looking for. She sent a message to Marinette and deleted it from Adrien's phone and gave it back. "Thanks, Adrien." She walked out without another word. 

"Wait, what about- and she's gone, I'll just ask her for it tomorrow."

\--At Marinette's-- 

Marinette was in a good mood sewing a dress for a fun event. That was until she heard her phone ding. She looked and saw a text from Adrien, and she read it aloud. 

"Dear Marinette, you are a very amazing girl, but after we were made public the magic was gone. I had fun while it lasted," She started to cry. "I just don't love you, I think it was just a case of wanted what I can't have, and after we started dating I just don't know what happened. I just don't care about you that way. You are just a friend. I am sorry, believe me, I hope we can still be good friends. Yours, Adrien."

That was the last thing she said before she fell to the ground crying. Tikki just looked shocked, something wasn't right. "This doesn't make sense, Marinette, don't cry. He must have a reasonable explanation, call him." Marinette looked at her walls "What else could this mean Tikki? He called me a friend, he said he didn't love me. I can't call him I can't even look at him." Right as she finished saying that she started ripping his pictures down from her walls.


	8. Alya's bad Side

Adrien is talking to Nino at school about how he thought Marinette was acting a little weird, because he called her this morning, but it just went straight to voicemail. That may sound completely normal, but she always answers. He thought she might have been in trouble or something.

Alya was talking to Alix when Marinette walks up and asks to talk in private. They walk into to the locker room and Alya could already tell something was wrong by the way she was hanging her head. "What's wrong girl?" Marinette struggled but looked up at Alya's eyes, she was about to cry. "Yesterday I got a text from Adrien saying that..." Alya could already feel he anger pooling up in her. "Saying. What?" She said slowly that kinda scared Marinette. "He said that we were over." She said under her breath, though that didn't stop Alya from hearing her.

"WHAT!?" She ran out of the locker room in the blink of an eye.

Adrien was still talking to Nino when he heard something that raddled him to the core. "ADRIEN AGRESTE!!!!!!!!!!" That my friend is the devil herself, Alya Césaire. 

"Bye dude" Nino bolted out of there.

"Nino!?" Adrien was about to run too, but Alya grabbed his ear and pulled him into the locker room with her and Marinette. 

"You broke up with my BFF over text?! You have no right to mess with a persons feelings? Who do you think you are!?" Adrien was completely lost, what was she talking about? "Alya, what in the world are you talking about?" Alya rolled her eyes, while Marinette just kept her head low. "she showed me the text."

Adrien's eyebrows furrowed. "What text?" Alya grabs Marinette's phone out of her hand and shoves it in his face. He reads it and is sad that Marinette thought he did this. "I did not send this." Alya scoffs. "Then who did? The Easter bunny?!" Adrien started to walk back. "No I-" He looked at the time stamp and was fueled with anger. 

"What?" For a second, Adrien kind of forgot she was there. "Why am I even surprised?"

"What are you-" Adrien ran passed her over to Marinette and wiped the tears out of her eyes. "Mari, Lila was at my house last night studying, she asked for my phone. And I stupidly said yes, she's the one who sent that text, not me." That caused Marinette to show a small but visible smile. "Really?" She said in a horse voice that almost made Adrien whimper where he stood, only because he knew that this whole situation made her cry this much.

"Really, you know I love you and would never hurt you like that." He could see the tears in her eyes starting to stream down her face and he pulled her into a hug. Tear stains were coming into his jacket, but he did not care. He just needed her to feel better. He planted a light kiss on her forehead before she pulled away wiping the tears in her eyes and laughing a little.

"I knew he would never do that to you." Alya said waving her hand at them. Adrien looked at her like she was crazy (Which she was). "Seriously, you were just yelling in my face."

Alya scoffed, "That was in the past, Adrien. Oh, and one more thing," She inhaled, "LILA!!!" Marinette covered her mouth. "Alya, no. I got this." She walked out of the locker room with a new wave of confidence washing over her. She spotted Lila walking towards her.

Lila gave her one of her famous fake smiles. "Hi Marinette, I heard what happened with Adrien, I am so sorry." Marinette just smirked at her and looked at Adrien who was just coming out of the locker room. "Nice try Lila, I know you're the one who sent that message."

"What text?"

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Lila, enough. Adrien and I are still together and happy might I add, goodbye." Marinette walked away and Lila said under her breath. "Not for long." She saw Adrien walking up the stairs and she eyed her ring. her eyes widened.

\---Time Skip A day later---

Gabriel was in his office thinking of ways he could capture Ladybug when he got a phone call from Lila Rossi.

Gabriel: Hello Miss. Rossi.  
Lila: I know who Cat Noir is, but you're not going to be happy.


	9. Cat Noir and "Ladybug"

"Who is he." He was hoping it wasn't who he thought, if it was he was a terrible father.

"Your son." His eyes widened, and he was hoping with all the strength he had in him that he heard wrong, but deep deep down, he knew he didn't

"How do you know?!" Lila knew he might react like this, it was never a good thing when Gabriel was feeling feelings, but she did what she had to do. And she will keep doing that, even if he stops.

"I saw his ring and immediately recognized it." Gabriel was wondering if what he was doing was right. He loved his wife of coarse, but if bringing her back meant Adrien getting hurt of worse, he didn't think it was worth it. He hung up.

"Nathalie!" He called for his personal assistant.

"Yes sir." She popped up out of nowhere, how does she do that?! 'I need to put a bell on her' he thought to himself.

"Lila Rossi called and told me who Cat Noir is." Every time he thought about Adrien being his worst enemy, it just made him feel so much worst.

"That's good news," He frowned, "It's not good news?"

"It's Adrien." Nathalie was about to have to same reaction he did, but kept her cool.

"Are we going to proceed with the plan?" Nathalie knew how much Emile meant to him, but would he really hurt his son?

"I don't know, I'm doing this for him, but doing this is putting him in danger."

"His happiness is important to you, but we can make sure in the process of getting his Miraculous." 

He knew she was right, keep Adrien safe when taking him Miraculous. Piece of cake.

"You're right," he took the Miracle box out of the safe behind the painting of his wife. "We have to go through with it." He quickly took out his phone and called someone.

\--At the bakery--

"These macaroons are amazing Marinette, thank you." Adrien was enjoying those macaroons a bit too much in Marinette's opinion. Yes you heard me, Marinette is slightly jealous of food.

"Thanks Adrien." She said in a calm and composed voice, at least that's what she thought, because when he looked at her weirdly, she just smiled awkwardly. Then they heard loud sirens. That could only mean one thing, there was an Akuma.

Marinette quickly left to transform while Adrien said he would tell her parents. 

When Ladybug arrived at the scene, she was without a partner at the moment. She heard a small chuckle behind her and she spun around in a defensive pose. Only to see the person who started all of this.

"What do you want Lila?" She said in an annoyed tone, she was hanging with her boyfriend, can't she do that in piece.

"Good to see you too Ladybug, oh and it's Volpina now." That was all she said before launching for the super heroine.

\--Time skip to when Cat Noir comes--

Ladybug explained what happened and told him the plan. And let's just say he wasn't pleased with the fox, he had had enough. "We have to get her necklace." Ladybug just looked like she was in a trance. He waved his hand in front of her face trying to get her attention. 

"Ladybug."

She blinked and looked at him. "What?" He was about to touch her arm but she quickly pulled away, stating that they need to find Volpina, then leaped away. She never called her Volpna. 

"Yeah her, and the real Ladybug."


	10. An Unexpected Surprise

-In Hawmoth's lair-

\-----

Ladybug woke up with a pain in her wrists. With her eyes adjusting to the dark, she turned her head around to see chains. She quickly reached for her yo-yo, only to find it gone. Then she hears an all to familiar voice.

"Looking for this?" Ladybug's eyes widen when she sees her number one enemy standing in front of her with her weapon in his grasp. She then hears footsteps and she looks to her left just in time to see Volpina (A.K.A Lila) walk out from the shadows. 

"Hello Ladybug." Volpina says with that stupid smirk on her face.

Ladybug felt a surge of anger race straight through her. If they took her, what did they do with Cat Noir? "Volpina! Where's Cat Noir?!" She needed to calm down, Hawkmoth could use her negative emotions against her, and she could never let herself get Akumatized.

"He'll be joining us soon... Marinette." Her eyes widened to the size of saucers. This could not be happening, she felt like crying, and she probably would when all of the was over, but now was not the time. She couldn't show a sign of weakness.

"How do you- " "Know your identity." The fox finished for her. "Sorry, I could never keep a secret for very long." Her smirk only got bigger she saw look of not just anger on her face, but fear. She had finally gotten to her.

"Why you little." She was able to get up on her feet before the chains pulled her back to the ground. Hawkmoth and Lila both started to laugh. "Nice try."

-Back with Cat Noir-

Cat Noir was staying a few feet away from his so-called partner to be safe, but he was also waiting for the right moment to do something. Though the longer he waited, the more nervous he got for his lady. Where was she? Was she okay?

"Any ideas?" Fake Ladybug asked. He grabbed is baton and pointed it at her, with hardly any mercy in his eyes. "Where is she?" He growled, there was nothing in this world that has ever gotten him this angry before. Adrien didn't know if he would be able to control himself if they had hurt Ladybug in any way.

'Ladybug' put her hands up in surrender, "What are you talking about?" He didn't know how much longer he could hold this up, call him clingy, but he needed to see his lady, to hold her in his arms, to know she was okay. "I know you're not really her, now where is she?" What ever this fake Ladybug was just put her hands down, and gave a smug grin. "Good luck finding her." Cat Noir gave her a confused look when she saluted, then turned to orange smoke and disappeared.

"NO!!!"

-With the real Ladybug-

The chained up girl scoffed, "There is no way Cat Noir would fall for something like that, he knows me too well." 

"You're right about that, he already figured it out." She was about to retort something back when she heard her bug phone ring, and she knew exactly who it was. "Cat Noir, no." She whispered to herself. 

Hawkmoth was about to answer the call, but Volpina stopped him. "Don't even bother answering that, I'll bring him to you myself." With that she left with the sound of the bug phone in the background. About two minutes later, she landed in front of Cat Noir who stumbled back a bit.

"Hello Adrien, do you want your girlfriend back?" 

"How do you know who I am?"

She smiles, "That doesn't matter, what does matter is that I have Marinette and her Miraculous. If you want her back, you'll have to do what I say."

He furrowed his eyebrows at her, "What do you want me to do?" 

"I'll take her to you if you'd like." He thought about it, but was hesitant. "How do I know you're not an illusion?" 

To his surprise, her eyes softened and she started to walk close to him. She touched his are, "Can an illusion do this?" He saw her leaning in and pulled away. "Okay fine, you are real." She smiled once again, "Great." Then she took out a blindfold.

"What do you thing you're doing?" She looked at him with a 'duh' look. "I can't have you know who Hawkmoth is now can I?" The black cat rolled his eyes and took the thick black scarf type piece of cloth from her.

"But you are not putting it on me, I am." She put her hands up in surrender.

"Fine by me."

-When They Arrive-

Cat Noir felt Volpina pull on him to stop moving, indicating that they were there. She pulled off the piece of cloth from his eyes. He saw his lady and almost started crying by how vulnerable she looked at that moment. 

"Ladybug!" He was about to go over to help her... or hold her in his arms, he hadn't decided yet, but Lila held him back.

"Cat! No!" Ladybug kept trying to pull at the chains to get out of them, but that was only making her weaker.

"If you want her, then give me your Miraculous." Hawkmoth started walking towards Ladybug, with his cane in hand. Ladybug only had fear and sadness in her eyes, but there was also some relief. Probably from knowing that he is okay. But all that relief washed away when she saw Hawkmoth reaching for her earrings. "NO!!" He shouted

He closed his eyes for a moment before starting to take off his ring. "NO! Kitty don't do it." His eyes opened and he gave her a weak smile. Then an idea popped into his mind. "Ladybug, it's going to be okay." She just shook her head with tears in her eyes.

... Then he turned serious (For once) 

"Duck!" Cat Noir elbowed the fox in the stomach, she fell back in pain, and he took the opportunity to call out his special power and destroy the chains that were holding Ladybug captive. 

Ladybug stood up and pulled her feline boyfriend into a bone crushing hug. "You came for me." His eyes widened, and he hugged back just as tight "Of coarse I did, don't ever doubt that." 

"NOO!" Hawkmoth howled, startling the two out of their trance. He started charging towards the couple. Cat Noir pushed Ladybug out of the way and started to fence his father without even knowing it. Ladybug was about to go and help him defeat their worst enemy, (For Now) but Volpina knocked her to the ground and held her down, reaching for her earrings. She would have gotten them if Ladybug wouldn't have flipped her over her shoulder.

Marinette tried to break Volpina's necklace, but it was like it was indestructible. The fox like villain got the ladybug off of her and stood up, "I'm the real deal this time."

"You have a Miraculous!?" Ladybug yelled so loud that it caught the attention of the other two people in the room before they went back to fighting.

"I never did sell the record player." She punched Ladybug knocked her to the wall, but she soon regretted it when she saw Ladybug grab her yo-yo that Hawkmoth put up on the wall a few minutes earlier.

"Pathetic! I should be the hero, not you." Cat Noir interrupted, he heard the last beeps of his ring and her detransformed.

Volpina had had enough of this, she ran up to the now detransformed Adrien and through him to a wall. Hawkmoth quickly ran up to him very worried , and took his ring making Plagg disappear. 

"Are you okay son?"


	11. Catching the Enemy

Adrien looked wide eyed at the man whom they have been trying to catch for almost a year now, only to find out that he was his own father this whole time. "What did you just say?" He said very quietly, he was hoping with every part of him that was wrong... but he knew he wasn't. 

"I'm so sorry son... Dark wings fall." There was a bright flash of purple, and there stood Gabriel Agreste. Adrien had tears in his eyes and was backing away from his father. How could he not have known? Why is he so blind? Why does someone like Marinette love a guy like him? He doesn't deserve her. He never did.

Ladybug was standing behind Gabriel frozen in place. She was watching the love of her life scared out of his mind, and all she was doing was standing there. She had to do something. And she was going to until Volpina came up from behind her and pushed her down to the ground. The good thing about the Miraculous, is that it will enhance your abilities to the fullest, so she was able to swing out from under Lila, and grab her boyfriend's ring. 

"Father, but why?" A tear rode down Adrien's face as he got the strength and courage to get up and walk towards his father, who wouldn't look him in the eye.

"I needed your Miraculous to make a wish." That was the wrong thing to say. It made Adrien angry. More angry then upset. "What wish?! What kind of wish is worth all of this?!" He flung his arms about to emphasize his point. 

"I can't tell you." 

He scoffed "As always." Ladybug went back to listening to the father son conversation. Though, she should've kept an eye on the fox, because she didn't see her grab the Miracle box and run.

Gabriel grabbed the broach in his hand and looked at it. "This belongs to you." He carefully put the moth Miraculous into his sons hand and finally looked him in the eye. "Now go get her." 

He gave him a small nod before standing up and walking over to Ladybug. "Claws out." Ladybug didn't even have to pay attention closely to hear the sadness in his voice. She wishes she knew what do in this type of situation, but she had no experience in any of this. 

"Let's go." She heard Cat Noir say before taking off.

\----------

She finally caught up with her partner when he stopped in the park. Although he wasn't moving at all, just standing there and she thought she heard him sniffle, and she was right. She almost started crying herself.

"Cat Noir, are you okay?" She put her hand on his arm and rub it slightly.

"Do I look okay? This is all my fathers fault!" He turns his head away from Ladybug, not wanting her to see the tears in his eyes, but she grabbed his shoulders and turned him to face her.

"Adrien, do not say that about your father."

"But it's true! He has been victimizing the people of Paris, attacking us and he has nearly destroyed the whole city and the people in it. Because of him, you almost died."

"Cat Noir! Yes, I almost died, but I didn't. He is still your father." He shook his head, "He. Is. Not my father... Not anymore." And with that, he took off, leaving his partner to chase him once again.

"Seriously Adrien."

\-----------------

Cat Noir landed on the roof of their school looking for the new enemy. He quickly turned his head to the fox standing in front of him, holding the Miracle box. "You want this? Come and get it."

"Why do you hate us so much, Lila?" He asked with his hand in front of him, ready to strike.

"My name is Volpina. And to answer your question, I have never been accepted, I am a hero whether you see it or not. I am the only superhero Paris will ever need! I have the Miracle box and I have a deal to make with you." 

He looked at her suspiciously, "A fair deal?" 

She scoffed "Adrien, it's time you learn that nothing in life is fair." He rolled his eyes "But, I will say this. I'm just an illusion, I'm currently at the Eiffel tower hold Alya off the edge of it. You want her, I get your and your girlfriends Miraculous." 

He knew how much Alya meant to Marinette, but he wasn't exactly sure if this was a trick or not, so he needed to keep his guard up. "This is not a game Lila! Give us the necklace and we can end this." 

She looked him right in the eye with nothing but confidence. "The only way this is going to end is if you both give me your Miraculous."

"Why?!"

"Same reason as your father, I need to make a wish." 

He put his head down, he was wondering what his life would have been like if he wasn't the holder of the black cat Miraculous. His life wouldn't be this crazy, but never-the-less, he loves this life. It may be hard at times, but he wouldn't want it any other way.

"Okay, then what would your wish be?" He didn't really care what her wish would be, it was just the same speech over and over again, but the next thing she said caused him to shoot his head up. 

"Marinette erased from history. I am the only superhero, and you and I are in love." That last one just made him laugh 

"Not going to happen. I love Marinette," If he'd turn around, he would of seen Ladybug land on the roof. "she means the world to me! She has shown me what love feels like. I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with her. If you were to erase her, this world would be a whole lot worse! She may make mistakes, but she works harder than anyone to fix them. You will never be a hero Lila." He was about to go on, but he heard the sound of footsteps and looked behind him to see his lady with tears in her eyes 

"Do you really mean that?"


	12. Chapter 12

Cat Noir had a sneer on his face when he was looking at Volpina, but it immediately vanished at the sight of his Ladybug, what could he say, he loves her. Just looking at her made him swoon. He walked up to her and cupped her face with both of his hands. "Of coarse." They started to lean in, but an annoying voice broke them out of their trance.

"Aw, I hate to ruin this happy, might I say adorable reunion, but I'm still holding Alya off the side of the Eiffel Tower." That made Ladybug gasp, she had only just gotten there, the girl hadn't heard the whole conversation. Cat Noir sensed her uneasiness and took her hand in his, squeezing is to reassure her and to say that he was with her at all times no matter what.

"Then let's go"

\--At the Eiffel Tower-- 

Ladybug and Cat Noir landed on the Eiffel tower in search of their missing friend. Ladybug was on the verge of a panic attack, whipping her head from side to side trying her very best to find Alya. While Cat Noir was very suspicious.

"Where could she be?" Ladybug said with her voice cracking. That only broke Chat's Heart, he hated seeing her like this. He turned her around and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back in a soothing matter. 

"I'm not sure, what I think is that Lila's trying to trick us again. She's a very smart person, but you're so much smarter." She cracked a small smile, but he could tell that it was fake. After all, he is the one who uses that same smile on a daily bases.

"Sorry, I'm just worried about her."

He gave her a reassuring smile and nodded, "I know what you mean, when I didn't know where you were," He cringed at the thought "let's just say I didn't take it well." She started to laugh. He thought it had been years since the last time he had heard that beautiful sound. 

"I should have guessed you would have gone crazy without me." She then stopped laughing and turned serious scary fast. 

"Okay, enough messing around, let's go find my best friend."

"Alright, I'll go right you go left. We'll meet at the top." She nodded and walked away.

\--At the top of the Eiffel Tower--

Cat Noir reached the top before Ladybug because he was skimming through everything, whilst Ladybug was looking at every detail as a clue like she was in a scavenger hunt, and Alya was the prize.

He turned the corner to see Alya with duck tape on her mouth struggling to get out of Volpina's tight grip. 

"Ladybug, I found her!" He yelled to his partner and took a step forward.

"Take one more step and she'll find out what cement tastes like." 

Chat froze for a second, but then obeyed and backed away. "How can I be sure that you are real?" She just smirked, like she knew he was going to ask that question. She pointed to his left, "See that rock?" He looked over to the rock then back at Volpina. "Yes...?"

"Pass it." 

He started to walk over to the rock, but kept his eye on the fox. When he got to it, he picked it up and pass (More like threw) it to her. She had quick reflexes, and caught it, it kinda surprised him. 

"See? I am real." She passed the rock back to Chat and he caught it and threw it off the tower. "Okay, you're real. Lila-"

"Volpina!" She interrupted, he put his hands up. "Listen, you do not have to do this. Just put Alya down and we can make a deal."

"It's too late for that," Ladybug appears behind Cat Noir, "Ladybug, nice of you to drop by." She looked at Alya and he could hear her breath quicken. "Volpina, let her go please." 

She looked like she was thinking for a second then gave Ladybug a look that made her want to shrink away in fear.

Lila shrugged her shoulders, "If that's what you really want." She let go of Alya and she let off a muffled scream.

"NO!!!" Ladybug leaped off the Eiffel Tower and threw her yo-yo at her best friend...

It went straight threw her. 

Cat Noir jumped down after her after he saw her weapon go threw her.

For a second she was shocked at what she saw, but she quickly snapped out of it and threw her yo-yo up at the tower. 

She missed

and hit the ground.


	13. Royal Fox

Cat Noir reached the ground safely and rushed over to his lady, holding her limp body in his arms. "No no no no." He kept mumbling to himself. Along with, "This cannot be happening again." and "I can't lose you too." He was so wrapped up with what was in front of him he didn't hear Volpina land behind him

She started chuckling lowly, catching his attention. "I guess I didn't need a wish to make her disappear." He looked back at her, his eyes getting dangerously large, "You little which!" He jumped and attacked Volpina, who reversed his move and had him pinned to the ground.

"Someone needs to learn to control their emotions" Her eyes soften for a second when she saw the tears in his eyes, but automatically return to their evil happy ways. She holds his arms tighter as he struggles to break free. In the positions they were in, the zipper of his pocket unzipped and the moth Miraculous fell out. 

She grabbed it and ran off. He got up off the ground and started to run after her, but stopped when he heard coughing from behind him. 

"Ladybug!" 

He ran up to her and put her head in his hands. Letting out a sigh of relief, he lifted her up and brought her to a rooftop. She started coughing again, and she detransformed. "Adrien?"

"I need to take you to the hospital." She looked at him like he just told her he loved Lila. "There's no time. We need to catch Lila." She tried to sit up, but he held her down. "No." He said calmly but firmly. He took her earrings off, thinking of a way to get to Volpina without ripping her to shreds.

"Cat Noir-"

"No Cat Noir, no nothing. You're not fighting in this condition." She gave him a 'seriously' look, but she knew she was not going to win this so she gave in. "Fine, but at least give me my earrings. I wouldn't use them." He shook his head. "You're going to the hospital, that's that. You just fell off the Eiffel Tower, you're lucky to be alive. If it wasn't for Tikki, you wouldn't awake right now."

That sentence brought Marinette to her senses. He was right, without her powers, she'd be dead. "Okay, but I'm fine, I'm telling you." She tried to stand up, which only caused her to fall back down with even more pain. 

"Yeah, let's get me to that hospital." She groaned before passing out from the pain.

\--At the hospital--

He jumped down in front of the hospital doors and rushed in, screaming for help when three doctors brought a Gurnee and he put her on it, careful not to hurt her more then she already is. Two of the doctors leaving one with Cat Noir to ask some questions.

"What happened to her?" He saw the super hero's ears drop and knew it was really bad. "I can't say," Adrien cringed at the thought. "But I need to go and catch the person who did this to her. Make sure she stays here, don't take your eyes off of her."

He put his hand on the cat's shoulder and smiled warmly. "We will, thank you. What is her name?" "Marinette Dupain- Cheng."

"Thank you." 

He watched them take the girl he loved into a surgery room. He closed his eyes for a moment and whispered, "I love you Marinette." 

He ran out of the hospital grabbing his baton to call Marinette's parents to let them know what's going on. 

"Hello?" He heard Marinette's father say on the other side of the line.

"Mr. Dupain, I have some bad news to tell you."

"Is everything alright Adrien?"

"No... It's Marinette. She got hurt badly, I brought her to the hospital, but she needs you there right now."

"W-why is she in-" Cat Noir interrupted him

"I don't have time to explain everything, just get there, NOW!" He hung up looking in every direction for the fox.

\--With Volpina--

Volpina landed in the middle of the park, looking around to make sure she wasn't being followed before clipping the Moth Miraculous on top of her suit. A bright light blinded her for a moment before dying down in front of her. There stood a purple kwami. 

Lila put her fake loving smile on when the kwami looked up at her. "Hi, I'm Lila, it's very nice to meet you." She said in a small and soft voice so that she wouldn't scare him and he could trust her.

"Hello I'm Nooroo, it's nice to meet you too Lila."

"I have a question.

"Ask away."

"Ladybug and Cat Noir are in trouble and they asked me to unite you and Trixx, but how would I do that exactly?" 

"All you have to say is 'Trixx, Nooroo, unify.'" Her soft smile turned into a scary smirk. "You're so gullible." The smile was also wiped off of Nooroo's face and is now a frown. "What?"

"Trixx, Nooroo, unify!" 

"I am now Royal fox."

(A/N: Be quiet, we only see you for like one part.  
And She looks like Volpina, but purple, also she does not have a tail but has both the flute and staff.)

Right after her transformation, Cat Noir appeared right in front of her. "Lila?"

"My name is Royal Fox."

Cat Noir raised an eyebrow, "Royal Fox? Really, is that the best you could have come up with?"

"Look whose talking black cat." 

He rolled his his eyes, "Whatever you say."

"So how's your girlfriend, I hear she's took a tumble." 

"She's fine, alive might I add."

"Hope you said your goodbye she won't be alive for much longer."


	14. Blackmailed

Cat Noir wondered what she meant by that. Had she already hurt Marinette? He needed to know what she meant. "What are you talking about?" He had never been that scared of Lila's smile until that very moment. 

"I know she's alive, I followed you to the hospital. I also placed a bomb in her room, and if you don't do what I say when I say it, you will regret it." Adrien had to fight the urge to snort. A bomb, Lila had come up with better threats than that, it was crazy.

But Lila wasn't stupid, could she be telling the truth this time. 

"How do I know that you are not lying?" 

She rolled her eyes and took something out of her pocket, it looks like a... Detonator. "Do you really want to take that chance?"

He sighed, "What do you want Lila?"

"Glad to know I have your attention. You can keep your Miraculous, I don't even care anymore. You can even have the Miracle box, I just want you to break up with that cockroach you call a girlfriend and be with me."

"Ha, no way would I ever be your boyfriend." He said, Lila, shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, it's your loss." She opened the cap to the detonator and his eyes widened. "No! Don't... Please."

He looked her straight in the eye, and he saw them soften just a bit, but the evil glint was still there, and he could see it clearly. "Oh Adrien, you have a choice to make. You either let her die, and the blood would be on your hands... Or you let her down slowly, and would get to see her alive and happy every day."

"She wouldn't be happy."

"Fine, just alive then. It's better than nothing and you know it."

He looked down, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, he almost lost her only 10 minutes ago, and now he could lose her again, this was all too much for the young model. "I need some time." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fair enough, you have until five PM tonight. Make the right choice, or else... Well, I think you already know what'll happen." and with that, she leaped away leaving Adrien to wonder what made life choose him to go down this path. What would have happened if he went down any other, but he would stay if it killed him if it means he would have been with Marinette. He knew what needed to do, but it was going to be so hard.

*At the hospital*

Marinette was sleeping so she didn't see Adrien sneak into her room and start moving things around. He was being a bit too loud woke her up from knocking something over. (And because he threw something behind him and it hit her) "Adrien, what is going on?"

"Marinette, you're awake." He ran up to her and gave her a very tight hug. Of course, she hugged him back, but she found this a bit weird, she laughed a bit. "Why are you hugging me like it's the last time you will ever see me?" He loosened his grip on her and backed away. Scratching the back of his neck, which Marinette knew was a sign he was nervous, and he also laughed, but she knew that was forced, what was he hiding from her? "What, why would you say that?" She furrowed her eyebrows, getting more and more suspicious by every action he made.

"Relax, I was joking." He fake laughed... Again. Something was very wrong. "Ha, right."

"Ok?" She would come back to that later. "Oh, and what were you looking for?"

She didn't even realize he was looking down until he looked back up at her, she knew that that was a sign that he was lying. "Oh...uh... My wallet." He saw her look a bit behind him, then back to his eyes. "Do you mean the one in your pocket?" He grabbed it then looked surprised, wait she didn't tell him what pocket it was in. "Oh, there it is." He said with fake enthusiasm.

"Adrien, what's going on? You're scaring me." His eyes softened and he kissed her forehead. "Milady, everything is fine." He took her hand and he kissed the back of it. "Now, you need to get some rest, you just took a big fall." 

"Promise you'll come and see me tomorrow." He smiled and nodded. "I promise." He grabbed the covers and put them over her shoulders and immediately she was asleep. He smiled despite himself and walked out the door, only to look back at her one last time. "I love you Marinette, and that's why I have to do this. I'm so sorry." He whispered with tears in his eyes.

*Three hours later at the park*

Adrien walked through the gate and saw Lila sitting on a bench sipping some coffee. He had thought of sneaking over to her to try and take the Miracle box while she wasn't paying attention, but he knew he would be paying dearly for that, and he would not risk losing her. She was the only happiness he had in his life... and he was losing that too.

"Are we going to talk business or are you going to stand there staring at me questioning life choices?" He sighed and sat down next to her. Well as far as he could away from her. "I made my decision." He said dejectedly. "What is it?" Lila said looking at the scenery in front of them, and not at him. 

"First, where is the bomb?" She finally looked at him, giving him a deadpanned look. "That was not part of the deal Adrien."

A look of desperation spread on him, "Fine, then just give me the Miracle box." She waved her finger in his face. "I will after the break up is official." He sighed, there really were no loopholes, no way around this. He had to break his lady's heart. Well as gently as possible, and for what? The sakes of Lila? What is wrong with her?! Wait what would he do if Marinette found out about all of this?... 'One step at a time' was a sentence he kept repeating to himself. 

When he finally stepped into her room, he saw her awake and watching TV. He knocked on the door catching her attention. He wanted to shrink where he stood when he saw the smile rise to her face when she saw him. This was going to be so much harder than he thought.


	15. Expect the Unexpected

Adrien walked inside the room and closed the door. He quickly grabbed a chair and sat it right next to her. "Hey kitty, I am so glad you are here. It has been so boring and I have had nothing to do but sit on this bed, and watch T.V." 

"Hehe... Yeah, but listen, there's something I need to tell you."

She saw the downcast look on his face and turned serious. "Hey, you okay? What did you need to say?" 

He could already feel the tears well up in his eyes. 'Well, here goes nothing.' He thought, taking a deep breath. "I'm really sorry, and I know this is sudden... But I think we should break up." He said looking down so she wouldn't see the tears running his face. Though he quickly wiped them away. 

"What?" She said so quietly that he almost didn't hear her.

"I'm sorry."

"Tell me this is a joke, tell you you're joking." Lila was listening from the other side of the door to make sure things were going right. She sent him a quick text telling him to hurry it up. 

But the next thing she said caught her attention. 

"No, the real Adrien would never do this." She smacked him across the face... HARD.

"OWWW!!!" He was holding the right side of his face where she had just hit, and you could already see a red hand mark. He thought he heard Lila snort from the outside of the door, and he had to stop himself from sending her a glare

"Sorry, so... You're not joking, are you?" He sighed and shook his head. He heard her quiet sobs, and all he wanted to do was engulf her in a hug and reassure her that everything will be okay, that he was lying, and that he still loved her, but he can't.

"No, I'm sorry." That was probably the only sincere thing he was saying in this situation. Her sobs got even more louder, he reached out to grab her hand, but pulled away at the last second.

Adrien finally had the courage to look back at Marinette's face only to regret it after seeing her red puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks. They were still streaming her face, and at this rate, it looked like they weren't going to stop. "Please go." She said through her hiccups, but he couldn't understand her.

"What?" 

"I said go!" She let out. He looked in her eyes, and he saw her having a war with herself. It's like she was forcing herself to do this, so she could be strong... and it was all his fault. 

He put his hands in the air and stood up to walk to the door. "Okay I will," He started to leave, but stopped halfway, "Goodbye Marinette." and with that, he walked out the door. He shut it and fell to the ground in front of it.

Lila sat down by him and put a hand on his leg, which he flinched at. "Are you okay? It look like she hit you pretty hard." He didn't answer, all he was paying attention to was the sobs of his girlfri-... Ex- girlfriend, man, did he hate the sound of that. He groaned.

"You made the right choice. She's alive now isn't she?" 

"..."

She rolled her eyes. "Here." She gave him the Miracle box. He took it and stood up to walk home, but she kissed him. He just sat there, wide eyed.

"See ya bae." 

Alya was at the end of the hall and saw (didn't hear though) everything. She ran up to him after Lila walked out the door, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the girls bathroom.

"Alya, I can't be in here." He yelled after she pushed everyone out of the room. (Some people who weren't finished with they're business) 

"Tell me I saw that wrong!" 

He already knew what she meant. She saw Lila kiss him. "Alya, it's a long story."

She sat on floor and looked at him expediently. "I'm waiting." He sighed and sat down next to her. 

"Okay, the first thing you would need to know is that... I am Cat Noir"

"What?!"

"So Lila transformed into a villain named Royal Fox, she had the Fox and Moth Miraculous. She gave me it back if I broke up with Marinette." 

That made Alya angry. "I thought you loved her. You gave her up just like that?" 

"No, no, no, it's more then that, and when I say this, promise you won't freak out." 

She looked at him suspiciously, but then nodded none-the-less. "Lila placed a bomb in Marinette's room and I can't find it." She was speechless, but then stood up, "We have to tell her." He gasped, grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

"We can't, she threatened to detonate it."

She furrowed her eyebrows "What if she's lying about all of this."

He shrugged "I didn't want to take that chance, she had the detonator in her hands."

"I don't know about this Adrien."

"It's either this or she's dead." 

"It'll kill her if she sees you with her."

He closed his eyes, "I know."

"But wouldn't she be safe after she's back home."

"You're right, I can just break up with Lila the lunatic and tell Marinette what happened." He smiled, after she gets home he would be able to hold her in his arms, and she would be safe. It felt odd, because he thought Lila was smarter then this... Maybe she was planning something?

"Okay, I'm going to check on her and make sure she is okay."

"Okay, I will head home, see you later Alya." 

"See you tomorrow." and with that she unlocked the door and opened it to see lots of girls trying to get in.

When she got to Marinette's room, she saw her hugging her legs and crying. She ran up to her throwing her own arms around her asking her as if she didn't know, if she was okay. 

"Mari, what's wrong?"

She wiped the tears off her face. "Adrien just broke up with me." 

"What?! Why?" 

"He didn't even say, he just said, "I'm breaking up with you." "

She mentally facepalmed and thought to herself 'seriously Agreste, you couldn't have let her down better then that?'

"I'm so sorry Marinette. I will brake him for braking your heart." Alya grabbed her by the shoulders and hugged her tight. She was about to pull away when she saw a puncture wound on her neck. "Hey did they give you any drugs?" She saw her think for a minute.

"No, just the pain killers in my IV," She lifted up her wrist to show Alya her meds, "Why do you ask?"

"Oh," She scoffed. "No reason, my mom just texted, I need to get home." Then she left Marinette on her own once again. "Bye?"

Alya called Adrien,

"Adrien, we have a big problem."

"Alya, what's wrong?" 

"Marinette has a puncture wound on her neck, and she said that the doctor didn't give her any medication, besides her pain killers."

"What are you saying?"

"I think the bomb is inside of her."


	16. A Talk with the Devil

"WHAT!?" She can't be serious, the bomb, inside of her body. Lila just doesn't know when to quit. "Would Lila really do that?"

"She's done worse." Wait what, what could have been worse then putting a bomb inside someone's body. And if she had, what else had she been hiding from him? Lila was not only a good liar, she could keep secrets too.

"Okay, do you when Marinette will be getting discharged from the hospital?" He heard Alya mess with papers on the other side of the phone before she answered, "It looks like she will be free to leave by... Monday next week." 

He thought for a second, "Thanks Alya, I need to get going now." 

"Where are you going?" She asked with curiosity. The thought of her made him sick. "To talk with the person who started all of this." And with that he hung up with an offended Alya. (She was usually the one to hang up on people.)

\----At Lila's----

Adrien was knocking on Lila's apartment door, but he kept knocking until someone came. The door FINALLY opened, it felt like hours in his mind when in reality, it was only five seconds. "Hello Adrien, what are you doing here?" She asked. He looked down and eyed the detonator in her right hand. Did she really take that thing everywhere she went?

"Why did you do this, Lila?" He said in a dangerously calm voice, but if you looked into his eyes, you would run away, and jump into a volcano because you knew you wouldn't get away alive.

"We've only been together for 20 minutes and we are already having our first fight." He clenched his fists, she knew what she was doing and yet she didn't even care. What kind of monster is she? 

"LILA!!"

"What?" She rolled her eyes.

"Answer. My. Question." He said so very slowly, he could have sworn he saw the smallest hint of fear in her, but it was exchanged with confusion. "What was it?"

He mentally facepalmed. This girl doesn't take anything seriously. 'now I know how Mari felt on every akuma attack.' He thought to himself, making a mental note to apologize to Marinette when this was all over.

"Why did you do this?"

She shrugged "Do what?"

"Where is the bomb?" 

She groaned and brought her hand to her forehead, this boy really doesn't listen. "I already told you, the bomb in her room." He nodded "Mhm, really, and where will it be when she leaves to go back home." He smiled innocently, her eyes widened, he knew. How did he know? 

"How did you figure it out?" She said in a calm voice, which only made him even more angry.

"Figure what out Lila, that the bomb is INSIDE OF HER!!!" 

If she was being honest, she was scared, but thankfully, she still had something to use against him, she smirked and took the detonator out of her pocket. "Careful with the tone Adrien, it's like you're about to blow up." He knew what she was doing, so he shut up. He may have been blind, but he knew how to take a hint. He took a deep breath and continued. "You put the bomb inside of her so that even when she is out of the hospital, 'safe and sound' at home. You could still use my love for her against me." 

She started clapping and booped his nose, which he glared at her for. "You are getting so much more better at this Adrien." He thought when she looked away, he could try and take the detonator out of her hand, but she knew him too well. "Try to take it and you'll never see her again unless it's at her grave that is." 

"Lila-"

"How did you figure it out?"

"What?"

She crossed her arms, the detonator still in her hand"I answered your question now you answer mine. How did you figure out where the bomb is?" He stood there in the same spot, from when he came in trying to figure out what to say that won't make her mad. It was like having conversations with his father all over again.

"When I was breaking up with her, I saw the puncture wound on her neck, so I put two and two together." She chuckled and shook her head.

"You may have found the bomb, but that will not save her. She is either die or live her life with a scar on her neck. You choose! You need to make a choice and stick with it this time." He grinned and pointed behind him.

"I could just tell the doctors and they could remove it." That smug grin was wiped off his face when she started laughing.

"It is placed right next to blood vessel, and if anything wider then a few centimetres goes anywhere near the bomb it will puncture the vessel and she will bleed out. There is no way you can get the bomb out without hitting it. So make your choice, stay with me and she lives, or II kill her and you are left with the guilt that you could not save here. No pressure."

"You're a psychopath!"

"I love you too."

"That is it Lila, I am going to find a way to save my girlfriend."

"But I am your girlfriend."

\---With Alya and Adrien--- 

"The bomb is tiny, and it's right behind a major blood vessel, if you just try to pull it out, she'd die. I don't know what to do" He walks over to his bed and dramatically falls on to it.

"Adrien, she will be fine." Alya tried to reassure him, but it didn't seem like it was working. "It's not that, you didn't see her face when I broke up with her, she had the same look on her face when she woke up in my arms after she fell off the Eiffel Tower, but it's like she was in even more pain now then back then."

"You had no choice, you did it to save her."

He sat up and looked her straight in the eye. "I did it because I love her... I haven't saved her."

Alya was about to retaliate when her phone vibrated. "Adrien," He looked at her phone, "She said it's an emergency, and get to the hospital right away."


	17. Untold Secrets

Adrien needed to get back to reality, because right now, all he was doing was thinking of every possible thing that could be wrong. Did Lila find out that he told Alya about everything? But he finally forced his lips to form some sentences that people could actually understand. "Is she okay?!" 

For the past two minutes and thirty seven seconds, all Alya has been doing is watching Adrien pace around the room, mumbling some incoherent words to himself. So when he finally decided to say or rather yell something at her, she almost fell out of the chair she was sitting in, taking in the smell of Adrien's weirdly clean floors.

"I don't know, she only said to come over there." 

"I'm coming with you." Adrien knew that Marinette didn't really like him at that moment and that he shouldn't be there, but right now, he didn't care about that. All he cared about was seeing his lady okay.

Alya hesitated, but nodded none the less. "Okay fine, but let's get going." Alya grabbed her bag and they ran out of Adrien's house with the route of the hospital in their mind.

\---With Marinette---

Alya and Adrien were running through the hospital after they got permission. They were in the hall dodging cursing patients, and running into doctors. They got to her room to see her holding a mirror. She looked their way and frowned upon seeing Adrien. "What's he doing here?"

Adrien sighed, at least she was alright. "You are right, I shouldn't be here, I'll go."

"Adrien."

"It's alright Alya, she's right. I'll talk to you later, about the project." Adrien said trying to keep his cool, he hated lying to her, but he didn't have a choice if he wanted to keep her safe. 

"Were you with him?" Marinette asked after Adrien left her room.

"Yeah, I was trying to get the reason why he broke up with you." She stopped talking after that and there was silence for a while. Marinette broke that silence though, because it was getting awkward. "And?..."

"Oh, no luck, but that's not important, what is the emergency?"

Marinette had kinda forgotten why she had invited Alya over until that moment, but that didn't really matter anymore now did it? She moved her hair out of the way so Alya could see a scar on her neck. Her eyes widened. 

"Do you know what this is?" Alya shook her head instantly, it was pretty clear to Marinette that she was lying but she let her keep talking anyway. "It looks like it's just a scar." 

"But I have never seen it before now." Marinette was getting more and more worried with each second that was passing by. "Well, you could have gotten it when you fell."

"From where." Marinette never told Alya that she fell from the Eiffel Tower, mostly because she would have a cow. But she has a feeling that she already know.

"From the top floor of the Eiffel Tower." And that confirmed her suspicions, Alya knew why she was in the hospital, but there were still a few questions in her head. Who told her? Though she thinks she already knew who told her. 

"Let me guess, Adrien told you?"

Alya cringed. "Yes."

"How much did he tell you?"

"I know that he's Cat Noir, and the whole Lila situation."

Why would he tell her that? Man, when you are in the hospital you miss a lot of stuff. "Why did he tell you?"

"I saw him and Lila, and I demanded and explanation."

Lila? What did she have to do with this? Every answer she got from her, it just raised even more. "What was he doing with Lila?"

"You don't know?" Okay, now she was officially curious.

"Know what? Alya what is going on?!" She shouted, making Alya almost cover her mouth to keep her quiet, she was being too loud.

"I, um..." She sighed, "Adrien should really be the one to tell you." Marinette's jaw dropped into her lap and she looked at Alya like an alien just popped out of her body and started eating her face off. (A/N That was oddly specific) 

"Alya, he dumped me. I don't want to talk to him." She crossed her arms and looked in another direction. Alya rolled her eyes and Marinette thought she heard her say something like 'you don't even know the whole story.' but she just blamed it on her concussion.

"If you want to know then you are going to have to." Marinette looked back at Alya and sighed. She knew she was right, it's not like she didn't want to talk to him. She still loved him and that was a fact, but she was afraid she would brake down into tears if she so much as looked at him. 

She groaned, "Fine." 

When she turned around, she saw Adrien being dragged into her room by Alya. She looked at Alya, but she only waved and walked out of the room, closing the door as she left.

Marinette looked back at Adrien, who was only looking down. Why did he look so... guilty? "Why am I here?" Adrien said in such a weak voice that Marinette just wanted to hug the life out of him.

"What's going on between you and Lila?" That question made him as stiff as a board. He looked up at her, but he just didn't look her in the eye. He didn't feel like he was aloud to. He felt ashamed. "How much did Alya tell you?" 

"She knows who you are, and she saw you with Lila outside of my room." 

He looked back down at the floor, "Okay? So, what do you want to know?"

"Well, one, what is going one between you and Lila?" She heard him scoff and she was almost ninety five percent sure she heard him murmur, 'where do I even begin'... Okay, eighty five percent sure.

"Nothing." She didn't believe a word he said.

"What happened to us?" She said with a shaky voice, she could feel the lump in her throat rising. She would not cry in front of him, not again. She had already cried by herself after Adrien left for hours, she had done enough of the, she needed to be strong. Not just to Adrien, but to herself.

"Nothing, I love you, I really do, but I just can't risk hurting." This conversation was really starting to confuse her. Hurt her, why would he be worried about hurting her? "What are you talking about?"

Adrien pointed to his neck, "The scar on your neck, it is a mark from when..." Why did he stop talking?

"What?" If he knew the reason, he needed to tell her right now.

"...From when you fell off the Eiffel Tower." She didn't believe that one bit. Why was everyone saying that to her? "I love you, but I can't be with you. I'm sorry, can we still be friends?"

She hesitated, "Adrien, I'm not sure I am there yet, We'll see." 

"No, I get it." 

\---Time Skip to the Next day at School---

Adrien was walking up the stairs with Nino, talking about him unlocking new characters in Ultimate Mega Strike three, When he heard a crying voice behind him. 

"Are you cheating on me?!" Lila screamed, causing everyone to stare at her weirdly. Adrien turned around and groaned at the sight, but one look at everyone around them got him to calm down.

"Lila, you need to keep your voice down, people are staring." He knew Lila wouldn't listen to something like that, she loved the attention. She smacked his hand away and covered her eyes. He saw tears coming through her fingers. Not only was she an amazing liar, she was a pretty great actress too. "I can't believe you would do this to me Adrien. I thought you loved me." He grabbed he hand from her face and dragged her somewhere private.

Once he shut the doors to the locker room and made sure nobody was around to hear them before turning back to Lila who was just giving him a blank look. "What do you think you are doing? 

Lila just ignored his question and asked one of her own, with a hint of threat in her voice. "What were you doing with Marinette yesterday?" 

...How did she even know about that?! How has his life become like this? He hated it and loved it at the same. It gives him that rush of adrenaline that he desperately needs, but he also has to worry about things like this happening. 

"What, now you're following my every move?" She glared at him and he looked down. "Adrien, answer me." She was getting angry with him. She thought about taking out the detonator, but she knew that wouldn't work forever, so she just waited for him to answer. And she is a very impatient person. "She was asking where the scar on her neck came from." 

Lila squinted her eyes, "And what did you tell her?" She said in a low voice as she started to walk closer to him, which he stepped back to. "Chill, I just told her she got it when she fell."

"Are you lying to me?" 

He rolled his eyes, "No, that's usually your job."

That pushed her over the edge, she was getting really tired of this and just wanted to end it all together, it would get Marinette out of the way, and Adrien all to herself. "I forbid you to see her." She said through clenched teeth.

"You forbid me, what is this the 1700's?" 

"Don't forget who was the power in this situation Adrien."

He sighed, "Whatever you say Lila."


	18. A Pain in the Head

The next week Marinette was discharged from the Hospital and was ready to go to school. Adrien was still unable to find a way to save Marinette. She was still mad at him, there was no doubt about that, but she missed him more then she would have wanted, but she really wanted to see him again, so she was going to try and be his friend again. (Even though she wished they were more)

Marinette was at school when she saw her best friend launching herself at her. She eagerly excepted the hug and looked behind her to see Adrien. His eyes relaxed when he saw her, but when he saw her looking at him, he turned around and immediately started speed walking away. Alya's voice broke her out of her trance.

"I am so happy to see you up and on your feet again Mari." 

"So am I." Marinette said, but she seemed distracted. Alya turned around to look at what or rather who she was looking at. "What's up with Adrien?" Marinette said, not even bothering to look away from the spot Adrien had just stepped away from.

"I don't know. Maybe you should go and find out, I'm sure he would love to see you." Marinette blushed at that, and she blushed hadn't at anything related to Adrien since before he broke up with her. "You're right, I want to fix what we had." And with that she took off without another word.

"That's not what I, oh why do I bother, she's gone." Alya said rolling her eyes, "Let's just hope Lila has enough patience for her." She added.

Marinette walked into the locker room and Adrien looking through his locker, probably grabbing his math book for his next class.

"Adrien, why did you do that?"

Adrien was almost knocked onto the ground when he heard Marinette's voice behind him. He started searching for his algebra book even faster when he found it in the back. He grabbed it and she his locker. He was doing his best to ignore her and obey Lila the liar, but it was getting harder and harder. 

"I can't talk right now." He said with a straight face, fighting the tears that were threatening to rise in his eyes, but Marinette's grip didn't loosen on him whatsoever. "Yes." Was the only word that she said to him. He knew what she doing, she was getting him confused so that he would say something to her... And it was working.

"What?" He questioned, puzzled.

"Yes, we can be friends again." She answered him. She was really making this hard for him, of coarse he wanted to be her friend again, Heck, he wanted to marry this girl, but with Lila in the way, that was going to have a little detour. Adrien heard footsteps come from behind both of them, and he knew what person those shoes belonged to, Lila.

"Marinette, I really need you to let go of me." 

Marinette was shocked by the amount of desperation there was in only one sentence, but what was even more shocking was that it came out of Adrien's mouth. What could be scaring him like this. She turned around and saw Lila raising an eyebrow at Adrien, then giving a death glare to her.

"Stay away from him!" Lila yelled at her, and Marinette could have sworn she felt Adrien tense under her grip. She let go of his hand and pinned Lila up against a wall. "Where is your Miraculous?!" Marinette screamed into Lila's face, spitting on her a bit.

"I gave it back to Adrien." Lila said blankly, clearly not affected by the angry girl standing in front of her. Marinette stood up straight and looked at Adrien with a disappointing look in her eyes. Which he winced under.

"I cannot believe you, I guess we weren't the duo you said we were." That is when a single tear streamed down his face, but Marinette didn't see it, only Lila did, she had walked out of the room, but she was still listening to see if she could finally understand what was going on. Though she could not hear much, only every third word.

Lila groaned and rolled her eyes, "I hate that girl." Adrien sighed, he had had enough with Lila's complaining, and he was pretty sure Lila had had enough with his as well.

"Lila," He sighed once again, "Please don't-"

Lila interrupted him, anger laced in her voice, "Adrien, what did you think you were doing. I told you not to speak to Marinette." 

Adrien's eyes widened with fear, and he quickly shook his head and waved his hands around as if he was trying to prove some sort of point. "Lila, really it is not what you think." 

She scoffed, she was pretty sure she was certain she knew exactly what that was, but she was willing to let Adrien explain his side of the story because that's just the kind of girlfriend she was. "Then what was it Adrien, give me a good explanation for what it was, because if you don't, there might be a little accident in a certain bakery." 

He hated how much power she had over him, but people will do crazy things when it comes to love, even him. At least he wouldn't go to the lengths as to kill someone. Even if she loved someone else, he just wants her to be happy, even if it was not with him, but she wasn't happy right now, and knowing that was killing him from the inside out.

"She caught me off guard okay." Adrien said with the same amount, if not even more desperation. She smirked at that. Lila knew how much Adrien loved Marinette, and as much as she hated that fact, at least she could see Marinette look so defeated when she was with Adrien. The tears in her eyes were just a bonus, and boy did she love to see her cry. Well, she loved to see all people cry, but seeing Marinette, or rather Ladybug cry, give her the popcorn, because she will not miss a single second of it.

She smiled and sighed, "You are so lucky you're cute." He cringed when she started to wrap her arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss him, but he thought fast and moved his head so she kissed thin air.

"Lila, not right now." Lila furrowed her eyebrows at him, (though it was hard to tell because of her bangs) and left. He was about to leave as well, when Marinette came back in.

"Adrien, what was that?!" Marinette said to him, man girls were sneaking up on him like it was some sort of competition. And he was trying to calm down, but it's like because of everything that has happened, it has made every other little activity in his life ten times harder.

"Marinette, now is not a really good time." Adrien said calmly. He thought that if he had said that sentence any louder, it would make her mad, and that only make him feel more worse, it that was even possible. 

"Then when is the right time Adrien, because the last time I checked, you said you wanted to be friends. We just saw each other last week, what happened?!"

"Lila happened!" He responded instantly.

Once again, Marinette had gotten an answer for her question, only to have more questions pop up in her mind. How could so much have happened, in such a short amount of time?

"What? Lila, what is that supposed to mean?"

By the time she had asked that question, Adrien had processed what he had said and so he was in shock at the moment. That was until he saw a hand waving in front of his face, trying to get his attention. He had said way to much, so she wasn't able to get much more out of him... Well at least not yet.

"I'm sorry, I should not have said anything. I need to go." Adrien was sure his breathing was ragged and uneven. He needed to calm down before he had a heart attack. He heard the five minute warning bell ring and he walked into class to sit next to Nino. He put his bag in the ground next to his seat and started to take some deep breaths so he wouldn't have a panic attack.

\---In the Girls Bathroom---

Marinette walked through the door of the bathroom and looked under each stall to make sure she was alone before letting Tikki out of her bag. The tiny being flew out and sat in Marinette's hands.

"What was that all about?" Marinette asked to her red spotted kwami, who only shrugged. "I don't really know, but did you see the way he looked at you when Lila walked in, he looked scared." 

Marinette thought about that, was that why he was sounding so desperate? How could Lila make him feel that way? It not like he was being threatened like her... Or was he? 

"What do you think he meant when he said 'Lila is what happened'?"

The kwami tried to think of a reasonable explanation , but they all sounded bad. "When he said it, he looked like he did something wrong." 

"I don't have time to think about this now, we need to get to class, but I am going to Adrien's place after school." 

\---At Adrien's House---

"Lila, nothing happened today, I swear." He was interrupted by the sound of knocking on the door and he called out a short little'come in'. He mentally thanked whoever interrupted his awkward conversation with miss she devil that was standing next to him. But when they walked in, he took that back right away and prayed to God Lila would not do anything. 

"Hi Adrien-... Oh hello Lila." Adrien heard the way she said Lila and just needed to keep Lila calm. So he was about to ask Marinette to leave in the most polite way possible when he felt Lila put a hand on his shoulder.

She leaned in closer and whispered into his ear, "You may talk to her right now, but do not try anything, because I will just be on the other end of that door." When she finished the last word Adrien saw her walk out his right bedroom door, but he still saw her shadow lingering underneath the crack of the door.

When Marinette saw Lila leave she thought it was the right time to say what she came for to say. "Adrien, what is going on with you, and what did you mean, Li-" Adrien ran up to her, covered her mouth and started fake coughing, because he knew what her next words were going to be, and that would not have been good if she heard that. For either of them.

She pushed his hand off of her mouth because if she had aloud him to keep it there for any longer, she would have bit him to get it off. "Adrien, are you sure that you okay, because you are act-..." She paused and held her head in her hands, it looked like she was in a lot of pain.

"What's wrong?" He asked concerned, she looked really bad. Her legs were shaking and she looked like she could collapse at any second. "Sorry, I just got a very big headache all a sudden." 

Adrien's blood ran cold. Lila told him all she can do with the detonator, and this was one of them. He picked her up bridal style before she could touch the ground and sat her on the on the bed.

"I will go and get you some water." He felt bad for leaving her alone in the state she was in, but he was the only one who could stop it. So he ran out of his bedroom, to see Lila leaning against the wall, and taunting him with detonator in her hand, which had a blinking light on it, signalling that it was activated, and with the press of a light switch, she'd be dead.

He reached for the very thing that can kill his girlfriend, even though he broke up with her, she will never again, be 'just a friend' to him. He already made that mistake once, he would not do it again. But like every time, she is just is too fast for him. It's times like these when he wished he was Cat Noir, so he could put his fast cat like reflexes to good use.

"Don't even think about it Agreste." Lila held it out of his reach, so he knew that plan bombed, so he changed it from attacking to begging.

"Lila, please stop." He went down on his knees and held his hand together. It was embarrassing, but he was going to do whatever he had to to get her back. Even if that meant wearing a clown costume to school the next day. "Then get her out of here." He saw her push the tiny lever up and heard Marinette's whimpers get louder and his heart broke for how much pain she was in. "Alright! I will." He saw her turn the lever on low and he got up on his feet, and went downstairs. Lila narrowed her eyes.

"Where are you going?" Lila asked impatiently, can't this girl wait five seconds. "If you want her to think that this is just a headache, I need to get her water." 

When Adrien got back to his room, he opened the door softly and heard her sniffling. When he took a step around the corner, she quickly wiped away the tears that were falling down her beautiful face. He walked up to her and gave her the water, which she eagerly took and gulped it down. "Man, this is the worst headache I have ever had." 

"Maybe you should head home." Marinette's eyes shot open, and he was afraid the poor girl got whiplash when she turned to him. "No, I came here because I needed to talk to you!" If she didn't leave soon, he would have to move to plan B. Though it wasn't a bad plan, he wished she would do it on her own.

"Marinette, please."

"Adrien, No!"

Unfortunately, plan A didn't work. Here goes plan B. "Plagg, claws out!" He transformed, picked her up, and jumped out the window. He felt Marinette dig her fingers into his back like she was clinging onto him for dear life. Well, she kind of was, but he would never drop her. 

"Why are you doing this?" She murmured in his chest. 

"You just need to trust me." He reached her balcony and set her down. He leaped away, and almost hit the ground when she grabbed his belt (tail). 

"No, Adrien, I love you." And with that, she crashed her lips onto his. (A/N Such a cliche line)


	19. Making a Plan

It felt like they hadn't done something like this in so long, and he had forgotten how much missed it, how much he missed her. He felt her pull away and he opened his eyes to her holding her head in her hands. How could Lila even see them right now? She started to fall over, but he caught her (As always) before she could touch the ground. He wished he could have caught her earlier when she fell because none of this would have happened, and they would still be together, but no on can change except maybe Bunnix, but she isn't here right now. If it was that important, she would, but time travel is not needed for this mission I guess.

"Why does my head hurt so bad?" He ignored her question and walked over to her trapdoor that led to her bedroom with her in his arms. When he got inside, (Without hitting her head on the side thankfully) and laid her under the covers of her bed. "Now stay here," She was about to grab his hand to say something again, but he was to quick for her, she groaned and laid back into her bed, she really missed Tikki. Her kwami would always show her the bright side in all bad situation, because ironically there always was one. 

Cat Noir was leaping back into his bedroom window, trying to think of an excuse that wouldn't drive Lila over the edge, but would still make a bit of sense. He jumped through the open window, and landed next to his fuse ball table, and in front of the girl who is threatening to kill the woman he loves. 

"Plagg, claws in." He said weakly, not looking wanting to look at Lila's judgmental stare. "I told you not to even talk to that girl, and you kissed her?!"

If this was any other situation, he would tell her that he was Marinette's girlfriend and that he kiss her if he wanted to, but right now, if he said that, let's just say she would not be pleased with that. Oh who was he kidding, this girl was crazy, she was going to kill her. There was no way to sugar coat that. How could he, this girl put a bomb in her neck, literally. 

"Lila, it's not-" She didn't give him time to finish (this girl was selfish.) "Do you want me to press this button and end this whole thing entirely, end Marinette's life entirely, because you are acting like you do?" He shot his head up and shook it so fast that he almost got so dizzy that he fell on the couch.

"No, Lila she kissed me." She scoffed, clearly getting tired and annoyed conversing over this. Plagg has suggested in the past that all he has to do is touch her and the problem would be solved, but that would only cause another problem, so that is a no. The only thing he can do is listen and do what she says.

"Yet you didn't back away." Okay, she had him there. He really needed to find those cameras because she was beating him at his own game. "Lila, you know I love her." He knew that would make her even more angry, but it was the truth, and unlike her, Adrien doesn't lie. Unless he needs to transform, but that is for a perfectly legitimate reason, and he is saving the world so he should get a pass.

"It you truly loved her, you would let her go and leave it at that."

That's not how it works. If she had to be with someone else to be happy, then I'd let her go, but does she look happy, NO! Was what he wanted to scream, but if he said that... boom. So instead, he replied, "Fine, I get it, but I get to be her friend again." 

She laughed and threw her head back, "Do not push it Adrien, you're lucky she is still alive."

For once he had something that could possibly changed her mind, and it was still the truth, so it was a win win, that is, if she said yes. "Lila, it's because you told me not to talk to her that this all happened." 

Lila thought about that for a minute, then she sighed. Yes! Adrien thought to himself, and did a slight fist pump in thee air, without her seeing though. "Fine you can talk to her, but watch your mouth, I have eyes everywhere. That didn't scare down to the core. But he got his answer and that all he really needed from her right now. The only other thing he needed from her to give him the detonator so she would be safe, and Lila could get some help.

"Thank you, now goodbye." He grabbed her by the shoulders turned her around, and pushed her out the door, much to her stalling. He couldn't stand another moment with her in the room. He immediately transformed back into his cat like alter ego and jumped back out the window, on the route to Marinette's balcony. When he landed there, he realized he forgot to shut her trap door, but he didn't mind. If she was asleep, at least he wouldn't wake her up. He snuck into her room, and saw her with the blankets over her shoulders. A peaceful look on her face, and he felt so bad that she had to deal with all of the pain she has, why couldn't it have been him?

Marinette, tossed and turned till she opened her eyes. "Adrien, what are you doing here?" She started to sit up a bit, but her pushed her down so she could stay comfortable. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

She gave him a odd look then chuckled. "Why wouldn't I be okay?" He sighed, because I broke up with you to be with Lila, only because she was threatening to kill you with a bomb she put inside of you. Instead he said, "Look about that kiss, we can't happen again."

"But why, not? Everything was perfect until you broke up with me. Something had to of changed." He looked away, ever since he broke up with her, he felt ashamed to even look her in the eye, and he was sure that she could see it. Who couldn't though, he was making it obvious. Only someone as blind as himself couldn't see that.

"Because, you know I love you.... I love Lila." He could see the tears start to prick at her eyes. "No you don't, I can it in your eyes, you can't even stand the thought of the girl." 

"No, I do. I had to make a choice, and I chose Lila." One of those tears started to ride down her cheek very slowly, stopping every other second, almost as if it were taunting him. Saying that he was the one who put it there, and he couldn't look away, like it was pulling his eyes back onto it whenever he tried to look away. "I think you should go now."

He understood that she wanted him to leave, but did she really? Or did she just not want him to see her cry. He got why she didn't want that, he never wanted her to see him cry, because he didn't want her to see him at his weakest point, when he was most vulnerable. Only his mother ever got to see him like that, and when she was still here, he always felt like crying in front of anyone or at all, was a weakness, but his mother made him understand that it takes a lot of strength to cry in front of people. He may not cry often, but when he does, it's always in front of the ones that he cares about most. So he wasn't going to leave, he just sat down, and got the strength to look her in the eye when he called his detransformation words and Plagg came flying out of his ring and on the spot next to him on the bed, whining for his precious Camembert.

"I am not going anywhere, I'm here because you need me right now, and even if you won't admit it to yourself, you know it's true." Adrien heard his phone ring and knew who it was right away, can't this girl give him a break for 10 minutes. It turns out Lila was calling him on FaceTime. So he positioned himself, so Marinette was not in the shot, but he would soon come to regret that decision. He answered the the call with a fake smile on his face. He saw Marinette give him a weird look, he knew she was the only one who saw straight passed one of his phony smiles, but this time, she saw a look of fear in eyes that she had only seen when they were in the locker room at school today. 

"Hello, Lila." That's it? Marinette thought, whenever she called, he would answer with a real smile, that would always make her heart swell, and he would ask how she was doing, but this, this is way different.

"What are you doing at that bug's place Adrien?!" Marinette saw his grip on his phone get tighter, and she honestly felt a little scared to be around right now. If you knew Adrien Agreste well, then you would know that when he got mad, it was never a good thing. 

"It's fine Lila, she is sleeping right now." Adrien is lying to a liar, now that is something she would never think she'd see, but why would Lila care where Adrien was, it's his life, she can't tell him what to do, and if she could, what would she be holding over his head for him to actually listen to her.

"How is that any better?! Adrien, you are a sweet guy, too sweet it you would ask me, but sweet. So don't make me set off the bomb." It took Adrien couple of seconds to realize what Lila had just said,and once he had, he quickly hung up and threw his phone across the room.

Marinette, on the other hand, was still processing everything. The bomb? What did she mean by the-... She looked at Adrien and touched the scar that is on the back of her neck.

"Marinette I'm so sorry, I didn't want you to find out this way, but..."

She looked at him, fear this time evident in her eyes. "The scar?" she asked, her voice breaking. 

"The mark from where she put the bomb inside of you." She gripped her arm slightly and rubbed it in a comforting way, in a way of saying that she was okay, when they both knew she was terrified. 

"So that's why you broke up with me, she was blackmailing you." He nodded, he thought that he would feel relieved when he got to tell her everything, but he wasn't, but it was the opposite.

"I haven't been able to find a way to remove it. I asked Max, and he said there will only be a 2.6% chance of not setting off the bomb if I try to take the detonator from Lila." 

"I am so sorry for all the things I said to you. Of coarse I love you, but can you find it in you to forgive me?" He smiled, there is no way he could say no to her. "Marinette, when we kissed on your balcony, Lila saw."

"She hid cameras in my room?!"

Adrien chuckled a bit at her anger, usually he'd be scared of it, but now it feels like she can't hurt him. Though all he wanted to stop Lila after all that she has done, but he knew he would have to take this one step at a time.

"She put a bomb in your neck, I wouldn't put it past her," He took her hand and discreetly put her earrings in her palm. "Meet me where I took you to that candle light dinner on that rooftop a few months back." She nodded and put her earrings back on.

He called out his transformation words and leaped out the window, setting up the surprise he had for her later that night.


	20. A Romantic Night out gone Wrong

Marinette has been anxious for whatever Adrien had been planning. Everything had been so awkward between the two of them, but now that she knows why he did all of that, just to keep her safe, it just made her love him even more then before, and that was saying a lot. She has always loved him, so saying that she loved him even more then yesterday, and the day before that, and before that wasn't really a surprise to her, but it was to him. He always thought that he wasn't good enough for an amazing girl like her. He may always think that, but she will show in every way that she can that that is not true, because she loves him, almost as much as he loves her. (Even though Adrien keeps repeating that there is no way that that is possible, because she cannot love him as much as he loves her.) 

So for the past three and a half minutes, she had been standing on her balcony, transformed into her alter ego, waiting for her alarm to go off. She had set one so she wouldn't be late, worrying about everything she is right at this moment. When it was time, she snapped out of her daze and swung her yo-yo, heading for the rooftop that he had brought her as Marinette then as Ladybug 15 minutes later after they fought Andre the ice cream maker, who she had accidentally gotten akumatized.

She landed on the rooftop, and her eyes widened in awe. It was beautiful, even more then the first time she was here. He did all of this, just for her. She is the luckiest girlfriend ever, she didn't think that she deserved him. "Adrien, you didn't..."

Cat Noir had been setting up the last of the candles when he heard her voice behind him, his ears flew up and he turned around to see the girl in her red with black polkadotted suit. It had only been a couple of weeks since he had seen her as Ladybug, but it felt like years. Even though she looked exactly the same as the last time they fought Lila together, he thought she look even more beautiful than then. He loved seeing her as Ladybug, but to him, she will always look the most beautiful as her civilian self, despite what he thought in the past. 

But he also thought she got more and more beautiful everyday, sure people (including her) say that he is a flirt, but he loved her, and nothing would change that. Especially not a measly threat, it wasn't the first one they had gotten, and he was positive it would not be the last. Sure it was the most dangerous one they had gotten but, he's dealing with it any way he needs to. If it means keeping her safe, then it's the best bet. He smiled at her, only this time, it was a true, genuine one, no strings attached. "I would only ever do the best whenever it came to you, and don't you ever forget that." 

"I love you." She leaned in and attached her lips to his, and he didn't hold back, it was different then when they were on her balcony, he didn't need to be afraid. Lila wasn't watching him right now, she was here, she was safe, and that was all that he needed to know.

For the rest of the night, they were laying in their sleeping bag, watching the stars, showing each other their favorite constellations, making wishes whenever shooting stars flew by. They were able to have fun and not worry about having to save Paris. They were just enjoying being with each others company. (A/N P.S, they detransformed) 

The next morning, Adrien was woken up from the feeling of someone shifting next to him, and the sound of traffic and birds. He let his eyes adjust to the brightness, and looked at the sleeping beauty that was currently laying beside him. (Okay so maybe he was a flirt, but he didn't care.) He smiled to himself, but as much as he didn't want to, he knew he needed to wake her up so they could get to school. He couldn't let Lila get more suspicious than she already is.

He gently shook her shoulder, making her shift even more. "Marinette, it's time to wake up."

She shot up, almost hitting his head in the process. "I'm late!!!" She yelled, trying to slow down her heartbeat. She heard Adrien chuckle lightly beside her and looked at him. All of the candles that were lit the night before, had been blown out out all through the night because of the chilly weather. "Not yet, but if you leave right now you will be on time for once." 

She kind of forgot what had happened last night, but every time she looked around, a new memory of their star gazing adventures popped up in her mind, she thought it was all just a dream, but she was glad it wasn't, because she didn't want to wake up from it.

They both got up and put everything away, she offered to help him take everything back to his place, but he respectfully declined saying that she needed to get home and that it wasn't too hard. She hesitated, but he assured her that it was fine and that he would see her at school. She nodded, before she could leave though, he grabbed her wrist and placed a lingering kiss on the back of her hand.

"See you later milady." He took his bag and flung it over his shoulder, and jumped onto the rooftop of the building that led to his house, but not missing the blush that had risen to her cheeks. He hoped that he would always be able to do that to her.

\---With Marinette at School---

Marinette had been walking up to Alya's locker to tell her about her secret date with Adrien the night before when Lila pulled her by the arm and into a private classroom, She groaned, Lila was the last person she wanted to see right now, but with her luck, of coarse it's bound to be the opposite. 

"What do you want Lila?" Marinette pulled her arm out of Lila's grip, who was surprisingly strong, and crossed them. "What was Adrien doing at your place yesterday?" She asked flatly, well more like demanded. There was no ask when it came to Lila. The unmasked hero's face went pale, she wasn't expecting Lila to be so forward, especially with her. She calmed down and put on a brave face that anybody (except the liar I guess) could see through.

"He just wanted to talk, why do you even care?" She played innocence, she wouldn't let Lila know the reason why, because, well it's obvious, she's scared, but she wouldn't let it show. Lila rolled her eyes and put her hands in her pocket to grab her phone, but Marinette took it the wrong way and ran out of the room. Lila took out her phone and look at the door Marinette just bolted out of, she scoffed, "I guess she's not as brave as she used to be."

Marinette looked back to see if the brunette was following her when she rammed into someone. They were able to stay on their feet which surprised her, because the only person who was able to catch her was-

"Marinette, are you okay?" A familiar voice said to her. She looked and the blond in front of her, and broke down in his arms, "Hey what's wrong." He asked rubbing her back.

"I think Lila was going to pull the detonator on me." His eyes softened, he thought that maybe if she knew the truth, it would have made things easier, not having to beat around the bush and all, but it just made things worse, she is so much more jumpy. He wrapped her arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "Marinette, she would never use it on you. She is only using it as a leverage on me, I will find a way to save you," He pushed her back lightly, so he could look her in her eyes, he looked so serious that it intimidated her. "I promise."

He wiped away the tears that were falling down her face, and she gave him a small smile, which made him smile, and that cheered her up. He just wanted so badly to kiss the perfect woman that stood before him, but he knew that that was out of the question. Lila could be watching and all of his hard work would have been for nothing. Lila says she wants to be with him, but he thinks the real reason is that she doesn't want to see him happy. Nobody can replace Marinette, and Lila knows that. That's why she's doing all of this, not just because she doesn't want to Marinette suffer, but she wants to see him suffer too.

"Thank you." Marinette said quietly, taking him out of his thoughts. He gave her one last big squeeze and whispered an 'I love you' before they both walked to their class separately.

Marinette and Adrien were walking back to the bakery, laughing about a terrible pun Adrien had just said when he got a message sent with a photo of Lila holding the detonator next to her head with a pouty look on her face. The caption said, 'I know you are with Marinette, now I am trying to be a supportive GF and we need to spend some time together. Come. Over.' Now that definitely wasn't a question, she was telling him to come over. 

Adrien sighed and bowed down to kiss the back of her hand. "I need to go," He leaned down to her height to whisper into her ear. "Find those cameras." She nodded her head walked through the door to greet her parents, whilst Adrien walked to his girlfriends apartment, but once he got the bomb out of her, that would all change. He knew he would save her because it this was an actual problem, Bunnix would have came to fix it, so it's not so bad that time travel was needed.

\---At Lila's---

Once Adrien walked through her door Lila smashed her lips onto his. (Was this girl actually waiting for him to come in, listening for his footsteps?!) Adrien immediately leaped away from her, pushing her away. She reminded him of what she could do if he didn't listen, and he calmed down, kissing her on the cheek. She told him that they were going to watch a movie and pushed him down on the couch. 

After the movie was over, Adrien had to pry Lila off of her, because "coincidentally" (as Lila had put it,) she had picked a scary movie, that made her dig her head in his arm every other minute.

"Don't go to Marinette's tonight if you know what's good for you." 

While Adrien was walking home he got a call from Alya that told him that he needed to get to Marinette's right away. He knew that he should listen to Lila so that he could maybe talk with Marinette tomorrow, but if Alya said he needed to get there, then he needed to get there. He ran in through the side doors to avoid a long conversation with Marinette's parents. He would normally love talking with Tom and Sabine, but he needed to be up stairs and not down in the bakery chatting it up with a wonderful pair of parents. He got up the first flight of stairs when he got another call from Alya, he right away.

Adrien: Hello

Alya: Adrien, I think I figured out a way to save Marinette, but you're not going to like it...


	21. Now or Never

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have something to say before you read on.  
> 1\. Thank you for reading my story, I really appreciate it.  
> 2\. This part may be a little graphic, so read at your own risk.

Adrien's eyes widened, could Alya have actually have figured out a way without hurting her? 

"I'll do it, I will do anything to save her at this point..." When Adrien heard those words come out of her mouth he almost passes out, He wouldn't even think about doing that. "Alya there is no way I would do that..." He listened to her reasons, and if he was being honest, it made a lot of sense, but it was still a huge risk that didn't know if he was willing to take. "Fine, I'll think about it, bye." 

He put his phone in his pocket and kept walking up the stairs, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that there wasn't many more options, but this could have a far worse fate in the end. He walked through Marinette's trap door to find her sewing what looked like a dress, he smiled, as he saw he drawing that design in the past. She almost gave it up, but he convinced her that she would look beautiful in it and that she should make it.

"Adrien, what are you doing here, I thought you said you couldn't come over tonight." He brought up a chair and sat by her, admiring how much detail she put into the dress, "Alya said that you told her that you needed me to come over."

She scrunched her brows in confusion, which he thought was adorable, but this wasn't the time to think about that. "I never said anyth-" The rest of her sentence was never said, because she fell to the ground with tears in her eyes, Adrien was immediately at her side, worry evident in his eyes, this was the second time she had done something like this, but it seemed stronger this time.

"Marinette?! What's wrong, can you hear me?" The tears that were in her eyes were now flowing freely down her cheeks, and onto the ground. "My h-head is killing m-me." 

'No no no, not again' he thought, Lila knew, and he was paying for it. It was all a trick, Lila wanted him to come here so she had a reason to kill her, but of coarse, being Lila, she had to make it painful. He grabbed his phone and messaged Alya to be with Marinette because he needed to get somewhere. She responded right away, saying she was on her way. He got up to her bed to go up through her trap door when he heard her call him name weakly.

"Adrien, p-please, do-don't leave me." Adrien sighed and landed on the floors next to her. He picked her up carefully, making sure not to hurt her more then she already was. "Alya will be here soon, you don't need to worry, I won't be long." He tried to reassure her, not letting her see that he was just as scared as she was. 

"It's time we end this Marinette, I can't stand to see you like this anymore. Just trust me okay." She looked up at him, nodding. Marinette gave him a small "go". They heard a knock on the door signaling Alya was there, Cat Noir kissed Marinette once last time before jumping out her trap door, on his way to Lila's.

On his way there he was trying to come up with a way to grab the detonator without aggravating her or accidentally setting it off himself. He didn't really know how to brake it without setting it off, but he didn't have any more time to think about that, because he was there. This was it, time to enter the dragons den. He wasn't going to wait for her to open the door, because for all he knew, she could be on the other side of that door, getting ready to take him out.

So he just kicked the door down, not letting his guard down for a single moment, because she was smart enough to know what to do if he did. "Hey kitty cat, you come here as Cat Noir because you're too afraid to face me as yourself?" Cat Noir shook his head and took a step closer to Lila, which surprised her. "I'm not afraid of you Lila, not anymore. I will not be afraid of you, that's what you want. You had me wrapped around your finger, and for what, because you love me? Because you hate her? No, it's because you're a selfish person."

Lila was already fuming, he was getting on her last nerve. "So I will say this only once. Give. Me. The detonator." The tone in his voice showed that this was no ask in his voice. "I am the one with the power in this situation Adrien, I can destroy her with the touch of a button."

Adrien took another step closer making her step back slightly, "I can destroy you with the touch of my hand." Lila's eyes widened, he was madder then she expected. She looked down at his ring, which he was playing with. "You wouldn't do that, you wouldn't hurt a fly."

Adrien took one more step toward her, and she was starting to get worried, without him noticing she moved to her left to grab the detonator, when he said something again. "When it comes to the woman I love, you do not want to know, what I would do." Lila felt the remote on her hand and grabbed it, holding it in front of her to show him, and she pressed the button. "NO!!!" Cat Noir yelled as Lila threw the detonator to the ground. The only thing that didn't brake was the timer that was on the now broken detonator. He looked back up at Lila, who was only smiling. "I will give you two choices, one, you go back to her, and try and fail to save her, or two, you can bring me to jail. You know I win either way."

Adrien was feeling conflicted, but he knew what he had to do. He took one last look at Lila, grabbed the timer, stood up and bolted out the door. Lila chuckled and sat down on the couch, turning on the T.V. "That's what I thought."

\---On a random rooftop---

Adrien stopped on a rooftop close to the school, trying to catch his breath, when he got a call from Alya.

Cat Noir: Alya, what is it?  
Alya: Adrien, her head stopped throbbing, but it started again, only this time, it is so much worse.  
Cat Noir: Lila pressed the button, we have less then five minutes, I'm on my way.  
Alya: Adrien, you know you're going to need to use your cataclysm.

He heard Marinette scream in the background.

Marinette: His what?!!?!?  
Cat Noir: I'm a few blocks away, I'll be there soon. Listen closely Alya, I need you to get a stake knife, rubbing alcohol, rubber gloves, and towels. Okay?  
Alya: Got it.

By the time Adrien hung up, he had already landed on her balcony. He looked down at the timer, it read 3:46 left. There wasn't much time left. He ran over to Marinette, who was clutching her head in pain, with tears flowing down her cheeks. He took one of her hands to let her know he was there. "I'm here Marinette, can you walk?" 

Marinette has been scared out of her mind since that phone call, knowing that Lila pressed that button, that this could be her last moments alive, was scarier then she expected, but she was also scared for Lila, which is something she thought she'd never think. She knew Adrien loved her, so if she died, what would Adrien do to her.

But when she head Adrien's voice, a wave of relief washed over her. Even in the situation she was in, she felt safe, safe in know he would save her. She shook her head, she was barley able able to stand up. There was no way she was going to be able to walk. 

He lifted her up and laid her face down on her chaise, Alya had laid towels down in case things got... Messy. She took her hair out of her pigtails so it would be easier to move her hair out of the way. Alya came back into the room and locked the door. She had gotten the rest of the items that he had asked for plus a bowl. She poured the rubbing alcohol in to the bowl and told Adrien to put his hand in it to disinfect it. "Marinette, are you ready." 

Marinette was still holding her hair, but was able to give a small nod. When she felt the knife penetrate her skin, a whine left her throat. This was so painful, but she knew it was necessary if she were to survive. She felt blood from the cut run down her neck, but Adrien had the towels ready. 

"Now Marinette, this is going to sting." Alya took the rubbing alcohol, and poured it into the cut. Marinette started crying even harder, "Shh, it's okay Mari, you are going to be okay." 

"How much time is left?" Adrien looked at the timer, and his blood ran cold. They had less then a minute. "48 seconds." He said, still dabbing at the blood with the towel.

Cat Noir took his hand out of the bowl and looked at Alya, who nodded. Here comes the hard part. He put his finger in the cut, trying with every fiber of his being to ignore her cries, because it only made everything harder. "I can't see the bomb, I don't know what I am doing!" He could feel tears prick at his eyes, and he didn't know if she was going to make it.

"You need to go deeper into the cut!" They heard a muffled "NO, please!" from Marinette, and it only made him feel more terrible. 

She screamed as she felt a sharp object rip through her tissue, the pain she felt as he was moving his finger was like someone was ripping her apart.

Alya looked at the timer and it started counted down from ten, "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five..." 

For Cat Noir, everything stopped. All he could think about was the woman he loved was about to die, he could hear the countdown ringing in his head, the muffled sobs of Marinette were killing him as he knew he could kill her in the process. It was now or never.


	22. Cataclysm

The detonator started shaking as it was counting down from five.

"Cataclysm." Cat Noir said as he heard Marinette scream, he can't really blame her though, his power probably burned her skin. He pulled out his finger and uses more of the alcohol to wash it off.

Marinette was in more pain then ever. It felt like the cataclysm was tearing her apart from the inside out. Then everything went black as she felt the blood seeping through her fingers. 

"Marinette?!" Adrien felt tears streaming down his face, she can't be dead, she just can't. but if she was, could it have been the bomb... Or was it him? Alya put her head on her chest, hoping she could hear her heartbeat. 

Cat Noir was balling now, he was watching the love of his life's face go pale. The bomb never went off, but the stress was just too much for her in the situation. She had a panic attack and her heart stopped after going into cardiac arrest. All of her memories came flooding back on her, meeting Alya, getting her Miraculous, her first day of school, and every battle she fought with Cat Noir by her side. Marinette didn't want to die, she was just starting to live. 

Alya was doing CPR on her while Adrien said the detransformation words. Cat Noir, now as Adrien grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight. "Mari please, I can't lose you too." He said that mostly to himself, but Alya heard it and sighed, continuing on trying to save the unconscious girl.

All of a sudden, Marinette shot up coughing, and a huge smile climbing onto his face. Tears still falling down his face, only this time, for the first time in forever, they were tears of joy. He wrapped his arm around her, and squeezed the life out of her. He heard her lightly laugh and hug him back. "You're okay, thank goodness you're okay." 

"Of course, I'm okay. You saved me Adrien." Alya who had walked out of the room earlier to grab some bandages, came back in and joined the hug. "Do not ever scare me like that again." Marinette shrugged, "Sorry, I didn't mea-" She hissed at the sudden sting in her neck. "Sorry girl, but we need to clean you up." 

Alya went back to cleaning up Marinette's wound, and stitching it up. "How do you know how to give stitches?" Marinette asked, confused. "My big sister is a wrestler, and we don't have much insurance." Marinette opened her mouth to say something but nothing come out. "Yeah, I have nothing to say to that." Alya rolled her eyes.

Adrien looked at the back of her neck and squinted, "Why is the skin burned?" 

"The bomb must have given off some sort of electrical shock, that's what must have burned you." She nodded and Alya finished stitching she up. Once the last stitch was done, Marinette relaxed her tense body, finally able to ignore the pain she was feeling in the back of her head. "All done, the cut should heal in a week or two. I would go to a doctor if I were you, don't get me wrong, my stitches are flawless, but you don't wast to get an infection." Marinette nodded. 

Adrien kept his arms around her, there was no way, he was going to let anything like this ever happen again. If it did, he hoped it would happen to him and not his lady. Though when he said that, it earned him with a smack to the back of the head from Marinette. Her saying to never say something like that again.

"About the infection, I don't think we have anything to worry about that. You guys used a whole bottle of rubbing alcohol!" Alya looked at her like she was still lying on her chaise, dead. "Well it was either that, or use an unsterile knife to perform a surgery." 

Adrien was holding Marinette so close to him that he could feel her heart beating, the same that had just stopped moments ago, he was so grateful she was still here with him.

\---With Lila---

Lila's mother had just gone to work, and would be gone for then next couple of days. So that would give her more time alone. She walked up to her room and grabbed her laptop. She went into a file to look at some of the recordings from when after Adrien left, but all she saw was static on the screen. "Crap, setting off the bomb must have set off a frequency that short-circuited the cameras. I guess I will just have to wait for Adrien to tell me the bad news." She shut off her laptop, plugged it in and decided to watch T.V.

\---Time skip---

It has been a week since Marinette's near death. She went to the ER and they gave her the all clear, they told her that she would need to get some rest after such a bad panic attack. They also gave her some antibiotics for her burn and cut. Marinette still felt anxious after all that went down, but a week off of school helped. Adrien also took the week off to spend some time with Marinette, since there was no danger in it now.

Lila assumed Adrien's absence from school was to mourn, and Marinette was not there for obvious reasons. She wanted to go to Adrien's home and give him her 'condolences', but she thought it was best for him to make the first move.

Adrien and Marinette both went to Lila's place that day to tell her all that had happened, but Adrien went in first because he had been very protective of her since the incident.

He knocked on her door and heard her call, "Come in Adrien." He opened the door and stepped inside.

"How did you know it was me?" He asked signalling Marinette, and the people they brought to stay outside for the moment. "I just knew you would come, my love." She said walking up to him, and wrapping her arms around his neck, planting a kiss on his lips. The sight of it made Marinette gag, and she just wanted to run into the room and pull them apart, but she needed to trust Adrien to get Lila to say what they needed her to say for proof.

Adrien practically threw Lila across the room when he pushed her away. "Lila, I still have a girlfriend." She furrowed her eyebrows, "Adrien, she's dead, I killed her," Marinette smirked, "Do you think you will need to see a therapist about it, because I'm okay with that." Adrien shrugged off the hand she put on his arm and shook his head. "No Lila, she's not dead. Come in Mari." He called out to his girlfriend who is very much alive. Lila widened her eyes at the sight of the girl who had just took Adrien's hand in hers.

"Okay, I think I need a therapist, because I think I'm seeing things." Lila pinched herself, rubbed her eyes, anything and everything she thought of, but whenever she looked at the blue eyed girl, she was still there. She then looked behind the couple to see a few cops walking into her house. They came up to her and twisted her arms uncomfortably behind her back. "Lila Rossi, You are under arrest for the attempted murder, terrorism, and blackmail." He wrapped the the cuffs tightly around her wrists. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney, one with be provided for you." 

The two cops led Lila out of the house, whilst Marinette and Adrien were in their own little bubble. Everything around them was never distracting them. This was all over, finally, it was over. They were both overjoyed, they were finally able to have a happy life together.

Many, many years later. Marinette and Adrien got married and had three kids and that hamster everyone was talking about. Emma, Louis, and Hugo were all very excited to see their grandfather who was coming home from a business trip in the Tibetan mountains. Adrien had just came back inside from getting the mail, and there was a special letter specifically signed for Marinette. The thing is, the handwriting looked very familiar.

"Hey Marinette, a letter came for you." Adrien called out to his wife. She put Hugo you in his crib and ran up Adrien, taking the letter out of his hands, and opening it. When she saw the handwriting, she immediately called out to her husband. "Adrien, you're going to want to see this." He could hear the worry in her voice, he dropped everything in his arms and ran to her. She showed him the letter and they both read it.

"Dear Mr and Mrs. Agreste.

I would like to start by apologizing for all the horrible things I did to you both, none of you deserved that. I did some awful things in my past, and I want you to know that I have changed. I'm living in America and became a police officer after I served my time in jovial detention, thief was a court hearing and I was released early but I am still doing community service to pay of my debt to society. When I was younger I had an anger issue and I let it overpower me. But I put that behind me. I hope you can forgive me.

Yours, Lila. 

Adrien and Marinette both look at each other with matching smiles on their faces. Marinette went to grab a piece of paper to write a letter back to Lila. 

Dear Lila,

All is forgiven, we have put that behind us. We're happy you are in a better place now, and are helping others in every way you can. You really are a hero.

Yours, Marinette and Adrien Agreste.

They seal up the letter when they hear the doorbell ring, that could only mean one thing, Gabriel was there. Marinette let Hugo out of the crib, and he went up to hug his grandfather. "Grandpa!" All three of the kids yelled, Gabriel laughing and hugging them back. "Hello, son."

Adrien hugged his father, which still felt a little weird to him, but he loved it. 

Marinette touched the back of her neck where the scar still laid there. It would always be there, but she didn't mind, because every time she felt it, it reminded her about how she survived and grew from it. "So, I made some macaroons, who wants some"


End file.
